Writers Meet Up on July 6 at Starbucks Katipunan

Hey guys! Are you guys still writing stories? Do you need writing buddies to motivate you to write? I sure need some because it’s been a while since I last wrote a story.

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Flashpoint Articles: For Viral Use Only

I noticed recently that my friends have been sharing articles that they hate. Either a misguided columnist or contributor said something discriminatory, or the CBCP was interviewed and they said something stupid again. When I see these posts, I try not to read them, because it seems to me that they are “flashpoint articles” or articles that are disseminated because publishers know that it will get a lot of rage-driven hits online. Or do they really think that these articles deserve space in their publication?

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Immersion Journalism in the Philippines?

Recently, I’ve been reading the book New New Journalism  by Robert S. Boyton, and I got interested in immersion journalism, a method where journalists spend a year or years with their subjects in order to come up with a non-fiction book that reads like a novel.

I want to do this too. I want to shadow someone and know all of his or her idiosynchrasies. I want to observe even the most ordinary details of that person’s life and painstakingly describe it. I want to create a realistic painting with words.

The problem is I don’t know if these book deals exist in the Philippines, and plus I am not sure what I want to write about. I have a bagillion and one ideas, but I don’t know which one commands me enough such that I will obsess about it for a year.

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Wishing for a WordPress Only Stumble Upon

I really like Stumble Upon because with a click of a button you can get random cool articles. How I wish though that you can set it to search through one particular website, specifically WordPress, so you can just Stumble Upon the blog entries here.

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3 Simple Happiness Boosters

No matter how trendy, deep, or powerful sadness is, I’ve always kept it out of my creative life. Unlike other artists who thrive under near-death depression or achieve cathartic release by ranting, I experience paralysis. I can’t write. I can’t think. I can only get creative when I am in a state of happiness–a condition that ranges from euphoria to peaceful contentment.

Now that I work as a writer, it has become more important to maintain my positive state of mind. That is why I’ve come up with three quick fixes to any bad mood:

1. Happy writing

As I said in I am a happy artist, writing about happy things gets me through sadness. It lets me shift my attention to something more positive, reminds me of all the good things I have in life, and eventually helps me to recover.

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