Paris, December 2017
April 17, 2019 at 3:48 am (destinations, Filipino Writers, Holidays, Traveling, Women Writers)
Tags: Christmas, memories, Paris
Thought for Tax Sunday, April 2019
April 14, 2019 at 4:16 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Filipino Writers, Sayings, Sundays, Traveling, Women Writers)
Tags: happiness, inspiration, seasons, travel
Self travels the world.
And does her best to be happy.
That is all.
The Laughter of My Father, by Carlos Bulosan
March 28, 2019 at 6:05 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, Family, Filipino Writers, Personal Bookshelf, Recommended, Sayings)
Tags: Carlos Bulosan, favorites, memories, novel, The Philippines, wisdom
One of our foremost Filipino writers was a migrant worker who died at 40 of tuberculosis, in a Seattle boarding house.
His name was Carlos Bulosan, and The Laughter of My Father was one of Dear Departed Dad’s favorite books (Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino found this copy for me, previously used naturally!)
Reading it now, self can understand why. She’s reading the Bantam edition, published August 1946.
p. 2:
Laughter was our only wealth. Father was a laughing man. He would go into the living room and stand in front of the tall mirror, stretching his mouth into grotesque shapes with his fingers and making faces at himself; then he would rush into the kitchen, roaring with laughter.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
A Cousin’s Farm, Oliva Dos, near the town of Murcia in the Central Philippines
March 22, 2019 at 5:00 pm (Artists and Writers, Family, Filipino Writers, Philippine History, Places, Relatives, Surprises)
Tags: discoveries, Fridays, memories, Spain, The Philippines
Near Murcia, Negros Occidental, the Philippines
Path cleared for a tractor, Oliva Dos, near Murcia
Self lived the first 20 years of her life without knowing there was another Murcia. In Spain.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Antonio Vivencio del Rosario Archives, University of Santo Tomas, Manila
March 22, 2019 at 12:54 am (Artists and Writers, Books, Conversations, destinations, Family, Filipino Writers, Philippine History, Places, Women Writers)
Tags: Ateneo, historical novel, history, Manila, memories, The Philippines, work-in-progress
Main Building, University of Santo Tomas, Manila: January 2018
The University of Santo Tomas is the oldest university in the Philippines. The first book printed in the Philippines, the Doctrina Christiana, is housed there, in the Antonio Vivencio del Rosario Library (named after self’s great-great-grandfather). At the opening, self’s great uncle, who donated the money for the archives, cited a thesis self had written in the Ateneo de Manila, which traced the del Rosario family history back, four generations. But self wasn’t there. Her brothers went, and great was their shock when they heard her name mentioned as the reason the archives exit. (Self couldn’t go because — well, she couldn’t afford the airfare. Husband was out of work. None of her family offered to make up the fare)
She FINALLY got to drop by in January 2018, met the librarians, and took pictures. The archives survive on the generosity of individual donors. Three full-time employees are responsible for digitizing the vast collection.
“How many books have been digitized so far?” self asked.
The answer: 150.
Self is thinking about the archives because today she decided to try and work on her 18th century novel-in-progress, Blue Water, Distant Shores. Her novel — a product of over-reach, self is no historian — is about a Spanish priest who, in 1736, is sent to the Philippines to fight demons. She’s reading about books by the early missionaries, books like the Ilocano catechism of 1621, translated by Fray Francisco Lopez.
“Your books should be here, ma’am,” she remembers the librarians telling her. “We’ll add them to the display.”
What? No . . .
On second thought! She’ll contact her press right now. Please send copies to the Antonio Vivencio del Rosario Archives in University of Santo Tomas, stat!
Found these copies of self’s third short story collection in the National Bookstore in Gateway Mall, Cubao, Metro-Manila! (January 2018)
Afterwards, self dropped by the Program in Creative Writing, and got to pose for a picture with the professors:
University of Santo Tomas, January 2018: Creative Writing Program Director Jing Hidalgo is on self’s right.
Dearest Mum’s only response, when self showed her the pictures: Why are you so short?
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Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
CHARLIE CHAN IS DEAD, Vol. 1
February 5, 2019 at 8:56 pm (anthologies, Artists and Writers, Books, Family, Filipino Writers, Memoirs, Publishers, Relatives, short story collections, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: Asian American Writers, grief, illness, Mayor of the Roses, medicine, memoir, memories, Miami University Press, short story, teaching, writing process
For the workshop this weekend, re-reading some old stories to show different ways of writing memoir. In particular, thinking of a story called Lenox Hill, December 1991, which Jessica Hagedorn included in the anthology Charlie Chan is Dead.
When Jessica contacted self to solicit a piece, self had nothing, nothing, nothing.
Her sister had died just the month before. She did keep a diary, though.
The diary became the story. The first story in what later become a cycle of grief stories: Mayor of the Roses (Miami University Press)
For a while, a course called Ethics in Medicine, taught at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, included the story in their syllabus.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Some of Self’s Publications, For Students Who Ask
February 1, 2019 at 3:56 pm (anthologies, Artists and Writers, Books, Filipino Writers, Personal Bookshelf, short story collections, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: Bellingham Review, Fridays, Literary Magazines, Manila Noir, Potomac Review, teaching, The Lost Language
2018 AWP Bookfair, Tampa, FL
Found these copies of self’s third short story collection in the National Bookstore in Gateway Mall, Cubao, Metro-Manila! (January 2018)
Such a beautiful cover! POTOMAC REVIEW 59
Teaching ONE STORY, SIX WAYS at Mendocino Art Center (Feb. 8 – 10, 2019)
January 27, 2019 at 9:05 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Explorers, Filipino Writers, Links, Places, Recommended, Sundays, Surprises, Writing)
Tags: inspiration, Mendocino, teaching
A deep examination of process.
A workshop that is as much about reflection as it is about writing.
A workshop about doing it over. And over. Until you get it right.
ONE STORY, SIX WAYS: Feb. 8 – 10, 2019
Instructor: Marianne Villanueva
42500 Little Lake Street
Mendocino, CA
Black and White: Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge
January 25, 2019 at 5:41 pm (Artists and Writers, Filipino Writers, Links, short story collections, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: California, Cee Neuner, Fridays, Hotel Amerika, Literary Magazines, teaching, TransGenre
Must be on a roll! Participated in two Fun Foto Challenges in one week!
The theme of this one is BLACK AND WHITE. Self took these pictures just a few minutes ago. Thanks to Cee Neuner for the always-wonderful prompts!
Self is teaching a three-day writing workshop in Mendocino in February. Here are some of the materials from the last time she taught this class, in 2016:
Work-in-Progress: Speculative Fiction
January 16, 2019 at 1:09 am (Conversations, Filipino Writers, Food and Drink, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: humor, short story, speculative fiction, work-in-progress
Self found this unfinished story in one of her old computer files.
An angel is roomies with a struggling college student. “He” is the angel.
He sat down and picked up an apple from a bowl on the kitchen table. “I’m hungry. Feed me.”
“You took an apple,” I said.
“Not enough,” he said. “A gammon joint. With apple and whiskey sauce.”
This is a very demanding angel!
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Stay tuned.
