Diary of Father Castellanos, Isla del Fuego, Philippines, 16 July 1731:
They are a most physical people, who cannot utter a word unless they have some part of their person touching yours. If you startle or shy away, they are quick to take offense.
Novel-in-Progress: from a Priest’s Journal
May 3, 2018 at 6:09 am (Philippine History)
Tags: historical novel, The Philippines, work-in-progress
Four Weeks In Hawthornden, Scotland, June 2012
April 22, 2018 at 4:15 pm (Artists and Writers, Conversations, destinations, Lists, Memoirs, Places, Recommended, short story collections, Sundays, Traveling, Women Writers)
Tags: artists residency, book lists, Canadian writers, fantasy, Hawthornden, historical novel, memories, Mendocino, novellas, Scotland
The benefactress Drue Heinz passed away recently, and there was outpouring of sadness from all Hawthornden alums. The impact she had on writers around the world was amazing.
June 2012, self availed of one of Ms. Heinz’s enduring legacies: the Hawthornden Retreat for Writers, near Edinburgh (40 minutes by public bus from). Four wonderful weeks, with five other writers: Allison Amend, Richard Lemm, Jenny Lewis, Marylee McDonald, and Joan McGavin.
One of us volunteered to write down every book recommendation, every movie recommendation, every poem recommendation, every television series recommendation and every short story recommendation. Self completely forgot about this list, until today.
She’s going through her house in Redwood City, inch by inch. At the back of a drawer, she pulled out this list. She didn’t have time to look at it in Redwood City, which must be why she brought it with her to Mendocino. Here are some of the book recommendations (The list is three pages long, double-sided. Self has no time)
FANTASY
- Guy Gavriel Kay: The Fionavar Tapestry
MEMOIR
- John Steinbeck: Travels with Charlie
NONFICTION
- Jim Rosenberger: High Steel
NOVELS
- Bhira Backhaus: Under the Lemon Trees
- John Banville: Doctor Copernicus
- Andrea Barrett: The Voyage of the Narwhal
- Joseph Boyden: Three Day Road
- Michael Byers: Percival’s Planet
- Sarah Shun-lien Bynum: The Ms. Hempel Chronicles
- Michael Crummey: Galore
- Richard Flanagan: Wanting and Death of a River Guide
- Katherine Govier: Angel Walk
- Eleanor Henderson: Ten Thousand Saints
- Guy Gavriel Kay: Under Heaven
- Larry McMurtry: Hud
- Howard Norman: The Bird Artist
- Marge Piercy: Gone to Soldiers
- John Steffler: The Afterlife of George Cartwright
- Elizabeth Strout: Abide With Me and Olive Kitteridge
- Rosemary Sutcliffe: The Eagle of the Ninth
- Adam Thorpe: Ulverton
- Sigrid Undset: Kristin Lavransdatter
NOVELLAS
- Josh Weil: The New Valley (3 novellas)
POETRY
- Tamar Yoseloff: The City With Horns
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
- Andrea Barrett: Ship Fever
- Evgenia Citkowitz (Hawthornden Alum): Ether: Seven Stories and a Novella
- Michael Faber: The Apple: Crimson Petal Stories and The Fahrenheit Twins
- Tim O’Brien: Going After Cacciato, The Things They Carried, The Lake in the Woods
- Tobias Wolff: In the Garden of the North American Martyrs
Current #wip: The History of War On An Island (Working Title)
February 2, 2018 at 5:45 pm (Artists and Writers, Filipino Writers, Philippine History, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: Fridays, historical novel, The Philippines, war literature, work-in-progress, World War II, writing process
About the occupation of a Philippine island during World War II:
Honorato was sent to the mountains. He had just turned 18. His father worried because he was tall, because he was good-looking, because he was the eldest and bore the hopes of his parents on his narrow shoulders. So, hide, his father told him. Hide as far away from the city as you can.
Originally, this was even longer than my other historical novel, Blue Water, Distant Shores. But, a month ago, I broke it apart and it’s now very fleet: just under 250 pages.
Stay tuned.
#amwritinghistoricalfiction: Manila, 1757
January 25, 2018 at 4:49 am (Conversations, Filipino Writers, Places, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: historical novel, Manila, The Philippines, work-in-progress
Self making this up as she goes along. From her novel-in-progress, Blue Water, Distant Shores, p. 135:
“Manila is a city of 50,000 souls,” Saturnino says, with an air of pride. “It is one of the largest cities in the Orient. A river, the Pasig, empties into the bay just below the Fort. Both sides of this river are built up with industry. You will find no want of commerce here.”
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
#amwritinghistoricalfiction: Blue Water, Distant Shores
January 5, 2018 at 6:48 am (Explorers, Filipino Writers, Philippine History, Places, Traveling, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: Fridays, historical fiction, historical novel, Manila, The Philippines, work-in-progress
The language may be a bit portentous. Nevertheless, here is from p. 7:
So the story begins. It is a story of churning oceans, ships, dragon’s breath, siren calls. A story of leviathans and faith, about islands and the building of ships. About Hell and Paradise. About blood and fever. And greed, of course. That, above all.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
nth Draft, Novel-in-Progress
December 16, 2017 at 7:18 pm (Artists and Writers, Conversations, Filipino Writers, plans, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: historical novel, Saturday, Spain, The Philippines, work-in-progress, writing process
Mebbe this novel will never see the light of day? Mebbe it was ever meant to be a long short story? Like, 50 pages long?
Here’s a conversation that was in the very first draft, three years ago. And survived today’s mad pruning. So, this is the kernel. The nut. The Ground Zero:
“Describe it,” the Archbishop says. “Did it descend from the heavens? Or was it walking along the street? Was its countenance clearly visible? Did it seem expressive?”
The Archbishop’s deep-set, green eyes focus intently on Matias’s face. He presses one slender forefinger against the side of his aquiline nose and waits for Matias to answer.
“It was a creature. Earthy. Very like a cow.”
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
#amwritinghistoricalfiction: p. 101
December 12, 2017 at 2:36 pm (Artists and Writers, Conversations, Explorers, Filipino Writers, Philippine History, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: historical novel, Spain, The Philippines, work-in-progress
A conversation between the Archbishop of Madrid and Matias, the MC of self’s (set in the 18th century) novel, Blue Water, Distant Shores:
“Are there testimonies of his cruelty?”
“There are,” says the Archbishop. “And yet, without the cruelty of Juan de Salcedo, none of this would have been possible.”
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
#amwritinghistoricalfiction: The English Arrive on Isla del Fuego
December 8, 2017 at 5:25 pm (Conversations, Filipino Writers, Philippine History, Places, Surprises, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, artists residency, Events, historical novel, Ireland, Manila, politics, Saturday, The Philippines, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, work-in-progress
p. 243 of self’s novel-in-progress:
An English officer stands on the beach, waiting at attention. Matias gapes.
“England has attacked Spain, sir,” the man announces. “We have 5,000 soldiers in Manila. Colonel Chisholm.”
#amwriting: 18th Century What-Not
December 5, 2017 at 10:08 pm (Conversations, destinations, Explorers, Filipino Writers, Philippine History, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, historical novel, Ireland, novel, The Philippines, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, work-in-progress
The following is an excerpt from an Archbishop ‘s conversation with self’s main character Matias, who is being assigned to one of Spain’s farthest colonies, the Philippines:
“There are a handful of civil servants married to native women who have taken to land management. I would not go so far as to call their efforts industrious. They are respectable but not artistic. It would be tedious to describe them.”
Whenever self re-reads this passage, she just has to go
lol
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
So Long, NaNoWriMo2017, #stillwriting
November 30, 2017 at 6:32 pm (Artists and Writers, Places, plans, Traveling, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, artists residency, historical fiction, historical novel, inspiration, Ireland, NaNoWriMo, novel, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, work-in-progress
Today self spent the whole day writing. Well, she spent all of yesterday writing as well. And the day before that. And the day before that. And . . .
Actually, the only times she hasn’t been writing in November are when she’s been on an airport or an airplane (pretty often, actually, in November, and lest she forget to mention — Aer Lingus sent her from Dublin to Cork, in a three-hour taxi ride because of a cancelled flight from Heathrow, on Nov. 2)
She did not, of course, do 50k words. But she never expected to anyway.
What she has as of today are 282 pages of a novel-in-progress, and she knows pretty much how she wants it to end.
She even thought of a cool-sounding title for her manuscript, a few days ago:
Blue Water, Distant Shores
Sooo fan-ta-ma-tas-tic. She got the idea yesterday. She likes to think she wouldn’t have gotten there if she hadn’t spent so much time working up to 282 pages. Two years ago, this idea was 60 pages which she forced up to 80 pages so she could go to Banff Writers Studio. And she’s had such problems with confidence (because it’s 18th century, and she’s never written a novel before, and she set it in Spain, which she’s only been to once in her whole life). But, slow and steady, and BIG BIG thanks to the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig for giving her that space and that peace and that determination to finish her book.
And she is so happy right now. Incredible.
Stay tuned.
