Forgotten Moments in Writing
There are some points in your life that seem so insignificant that you completely forget that they ever happened. Getting full bangs in senior year of college. Being in the opening credits of a kids show (Batibot, I think?), my chorale era. But what’s funny is that these moments were just as important in shaping who I am now, and it’s even funnier when those little moments seem to come back to you.
Take for example, that one year I applied to be a Creative Writing Grad Student in UP. HILARIOUS from a student that was never in any merit English class, and still remembers that she was not selected as the best essay writer that time she was taking a college entrance exam prep course (wow grudges).
I had graduated college with a Management degree and a decision that I wanted to write. I had taken a class called “Writing About Culture,” and I don’t know if it was the subject, or the way the prof (I was so bibo I volunteered to be the beadle, Prof. Ruel de Vera, hi!) taught the class. But I was intrigued by the idea of writing that was fun, that could be cutting or funny and send a point across. Tapping into that side of me woke up everything that I thought I left behind in high school (fanfiction, making my classmates hang on the edge of their seats by my work).
So after I left my first “writing job,” and wondering what I was supposed to do next, the suggested, obvious path was to go for a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. I don’t think I or the people who made that suggestion really knew the difference between lifestyle writing and creative writing back then. It was just something to do, or to try I suppose.
So I applied, sometime in 2013. Nothing about it felt quite right to me, I think the essay question was something about fiction (wow) and I ended up talking about Emma. It just didn’t feel right, the person who read chick lit books, wrote and read fanfiction, entering an academe that would probably look down shun the content she enjoyed. I submitted my essay and didn’t look back. I don’t even remember if I passed or not (probs not lol).
And that was just a brief blip in my life, a moment, because by the of 2015, I would release Cities, the first original fiction book I ever wrote.
Many, many moons later, this happened.
I’m really excited about this, mostly because it’s encouraging a whole new world of romance stories, and it’s in Ateneo! I don’t think I would have ever imagined that a literary institution would be interested in anything we would come up with, but here we are, being encouraged with open arms. I think even more special is the specific list of things ANWW21 is looking for, namely:
queer romances
romances about non-Christian experiences
romances beyond middle-class experiences
encounters outside Metro Manila
romances dwelling on post-pandemic experiences
polyamorous, ethical non-monogamous, and open relationships
virtual romances mediated by new technology
romances addressing issues of (dis)ability and representations
These based on recommendations that we made to them, which is absolutely mind blowing. I’m happy to be a teeny tiny part of this new thing, and in a way feels like a full circle moment.
If this excites you too, and you want to apply, you can find the full announcement here!
I’m sure there will be more exciting announcements soon, but I just wanted to put this story up here to have a record of that little moment in time that I totally forgot about. Haha.