It opens:
- David Fowler and his wife, Edith, were from Iowa. They were both blonde, blue-eyed, stocky – real, true-blooded, plains Americans. Gusts of a wholesome Midwest freshness came with them on the steamer across the Pacific.
#amwriting a Longer Short Story
January 22, 2020 at 9:04 pm (Filipino Writers, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: historical fiction, Philippines, work-in-progress
FOR Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 62: SILHOUETTES
September 8, 2019 at 10:22 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, Food and Drink, Links, Traveling)
Tags: fast food, Manila, Mondays, Philippines, Redwood City, restaurants
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 62: SILHOUETTES
Silhouettes “are a marvelous technique to add to your photographic repertoire because they can add drama, mystery, emotion, and atmosphere to your photos.”
Can they ever. Self’s favorite types of shots are silhouettes.
A Little Past Midnight, Jollibee Drive-Thru, Manila
Reading Nook, Self’s House in Redwood City, California. The lamp is one of her favorites: She bought it several years ago from Harvest, a furniture store in Menlo Park.
Menchit Ongpin, wearing jewelry of her own design, at a dinner with former college classmates, Fely J’s, Greenbelt 5, Makati. Self asked Menchit to turn her head so she could capture her in silhouette.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: COLOR OF YOUR CHOICE
February 13, 2019 at 9:06 pm (Personal Bookshelf, Places, Traveling)
Tags: Cee Neuner, Japan, London, memories, nostalgia, Philippines
Self’s choice is RED.
Self at 19, with Masako in Shibuya, Tokyo
Red Woven Bag from the Philippines, in Self’s Closet
Self’s Red Knapsack: The Penn Club, London, 23 November 2018
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
First Story of Self’s New Collection, “Magellan’s Mirror”
January 22, 2018 at 3:22 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, Explorers, Filipino Writers, short story collections, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: J Journal, literary awards, Literary Magazines, Mondays, Philippine History, Philippines, short story, speculative fiction
Self’s story was first published in J Journal, 2012. She just decided it will be the title of the new collection she’s completing. Thanks to the editors at J Journal, who published it and nominated it for a Pushcart.
Read the excerpt below:
And if our Lord and the Virgin Mother had not aided us by giving good weather to refresh ourselves with provisions and other things we had died in this very great sea. And I believe that nevermore will any man undertake to make such a voyage.
— Antonio Pigafetta, Chronicler of the Magellan Expedition
The crew encountered the giant during the winter, after months of battling the water just south of Brasilia. He was described by the sailors as being twelve or thirteen palmos tall, which is to say, over eight feet.
Stay tuned, dear blog reader. Stay tuned.
Weathered in the Philippines
January 16, 2018 at 3:25 am (Artists and Writers, Books, Flowers, Philippine History, Places, postaday, Recommended)
Tags: Ateneo, Manila, memories, Philippines
Volumes of Manuel Blanco’s FLORA DE FILIPINAS
The trees in the Quadrangle of the Ateneo de Manila University (self’s alma mater) have been there for decades. So have the stone benches.
Never Forget: The Ampatuan Massacre, 23 November 2009
November 21, 2017 at 4:40 pm (Filipino Writers, Philippine History)
Tags: causes, grief, Philippines
The victims: 32 journalists (most from central Mindanao), the wife of a gubernatorial candidate, innocent passersby who stumbled on the massacre as it was unfolding
The ditch prepared by the murderers for the dumping of the bodies was so large it accommodated an entire car. No, a van. A mini-bus.
Stay tuned.
Self’s “First Life” (Juked.com)
April 6, 2017 at 11:26 am (Artists and Writers, Explorers, Filipino Writers, Places, Recommended, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: dystopia, fantasy, flash fiction, Juked.com, Literary Magazines, Philippines, short story
“First Life” first line:
- Ever since they moved our colony from Tonle Sap to the Philippines, my mind hasn’t been the same.
2017 Winners: World Press Photo Awards
February 13, 2017 at 6:00 pm (Links, Lists)
Tags: causes, China, Iraq, Mondays, Philippines, photography, politics, praise
Self only has a few minutes to post this, as she’s running here there and everywhere and the only reason she is still in her apartment is because she decided to work a little more on her sequel to “First Causes”: “This Is End” (dystopia, fantasy, apocalyptic, etc what else is new, lol)
Winner: Associated Press Photographer Burhan Ozbilici, for his image of a gun-wielding off-duty Turkish policeman standing over the body of Russia’s ambassador, Dec. 19
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
Singles
- Jonathan Bachman (USA), Reuters: “Taking a Stand in Baton Rouge”
- Vadim Ghirda (Romania), The Associated Press: “Migrant Crossing”
- Daniel Etter (Germany): “The Libyan Migrant Trap”
Stories
- Amber Bracken (Canada): “Standing Rock”
- Lalo de Almeida (Brazil): “Victims of the Zika Virus”
- Peter Bauza (Germany): “Copacabana Palace”
DAILY LIFE
Singles
- Paula Bronstein (USA), Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting: “The Silent Victims of a Forgotten War”
- Tiejun Wang (China): “Sweat Makes Champions”
- Matthieu Paley (France), National Geographic: “China’s Wild West”
Stories
- Tomas Munita (Chile), The New York Times: “Cuba on the Edge of Change”
- Elena Asonova (Russia): “Out of the Way”
- Francesco Comello (Italy): “Isle of Salvation”
GENERAL NEWS
Singles
- Laurent Van der Stockt (France), Getty for Le Monde: “Offensive on Mosul”
- Santi Palacios (Spain): “Left Alone”
- Noel Celis (Philippines), Agence France-Presse: “Inside the Philippines’ Most Overcrowded Jail”
Reading Life 2016
November 2, 2016 at 4:36 pm (Books, Lists, Memoirs, Personal Bookshelf, Pianos, Recommended, Women Writers)
Tags: book lists, essays, Irish writers, Jane Austen, Japanese writers, mysteries, nonfiction, novel, Palestine, Philippines, Russian literature, translation, war literature, World War II
October 2016
- Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission (history), by Hampton Sides
- A Short History of Women (novel) by Kate Walbert
September 2016
- The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine (nonfiction), by Ben Ehrenreich
- Brazillionaires (nonfiction), by Alex Cuadros
August 2016
- Northanger Abbey (novel), by Jane Austen
- Swimming Studies (memoir), by Leann Sharpton
- The Course of Love (novel), by Alain de Botton
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Sketches (travel book, poetry), by Matsuo Basho
- The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone (essay collection), by Olivia Laing
July 2016
- The Green Road (novel), by Anne Enright
- Girl Waits With Gun (mystery), by Amy Stewart
June 2016
- The Girl on the Train (novel), by Paula Hawkins
- My Brilliant Friend (novel), by Elena Ferrante
May 2016 Read the rest of this entry »
#amwriting: Novel-in-Progress, WILDERNESS, Chapter 1
August 1, 2016 at 6:18 pm (Explorers, Food and Drink, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: advice, Banff, Mondays, novel, Philippines, revising, writing process
- The old servant woman placed before each of them a white plate on which were artfully arranged four thin, golden slices of ripe mango.
Novel got her into the 2015 Banff Literary Studio, where one of her mentors was so scrupulous he marked sentence by sentence. Things like: WHO IS THE SPEAKER HERE?
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
