Currently Vol. 8

I'm still on a high from being able to finish my buqo YA story on time! I woke up on the right side of the bed and sashayed to work excitedly despite clocking in only two hours and a half of sleep last night.

I have received really positive reception and helpful comments from most of my beta readers already, and that just warms my heart. Tomorrow, I start editing. The final class is this coming Saturday already and because I wasn't able to attend the first one, I would really try my best to attend this time. It would be nice to see Mina again, meet my classmates, and gush over our shared success together.

Meanwhile:

CURRENTLY Vol. 8

READING
The edits sent in by my friends Alex and Anne who concentrated on grammar and voice of the story. For fun, I am also reading Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. I'm not even halfway through yet so I'm not sure if this is a valid opinion, but I feel I liked Simon van Booy's The Secret Lives of People in Love more.

WRITING EDITING
My buqo-sponsored Young Adult story Once Upon a Post-It.

LISTENING TO
Yellowcard's Hang You Up and She's Only Sixteen's Magic on loop.

SMELLING
The smell of success. Hah.

WEARING
A big smile that I can't seem to wipe off.

THINKING
Of more stories I want to write.

FEELING
Thankful that I have a job that allows me to do things that feed my soul.

LOVING
The support the people around me have been showering me.

From my sunshine and serenade-in-a-box Ed last Saturday night. 

Excerpt from a very sweet email from my blog reader Bea last night

You don't know how much these mean to me. Thank you so much!

WANTING
To reward myself for this achievement but I don't know what to get for myself yet. A dress? Meh. Shoes? Meh. I'd like to go out of town but I don't think I have it in me to go alone. I need someone to plan with.

NEEDING
To get more rest because I've been subsisting on less than three hours of sleep each day for the past three weeks.

WISHING
I can watch Backstreet Boys in concert with my Mom. She's a fan of the boyband so I'm planning to buy tickets for us to surprise her. Sssh. ;)

May we never run out of things to smile about

Lots of things to look forward to this week: The Voice Season 8, Nate Ruess's new song, two TOMS events, a Sample Room event, and buqo YA's "graduation" on Saturday! Have a fantabulous week ahead!

I freakin' did it

And now I just want to shimmy all over my room with this Jason Mraz song on repeat!

I did it, guys. I finished my story for Mina Esguerra's buqo-sponsored Young Adult online class!

Save for my Creative Writing portfolio for my Intensive English class back in college, this is my first fictional work that I am putting out there, like, really out there, so this is kinda a big deal for me. Having said that, I am feeling so emotional right now. (ノД`)・゜・。

I always say I'm happiest when I make, no matter what form: a simple blog post, a crappy watercolor painting, or anything I DIY, but it's a completely different world when you create a completely different universe and give life to characters huhuhu. It's a different kind of high, and now I know how the authors I look up to were able to churn out book after book at a rate even I (who can't go to sleep without reading even one chapter) can't keep up with.

I'm so in love with life right now like you wouldn't believe. ♡

The online class started on January 24 and will end on February 28, which is the deadline of us sending the final draft. I have been sleeping less than three hours a day for the past three weeks, but if I'm being completely honest I only worked on my story for less than twenty hours. The rest of the time was spent either on work or procrastinating by watching movies and Will & Grace, reading endless articles all over the web, taking online quizzes, chatting with friends, and over-thinking every possible scenario about why I couldn't do this.

But hey, against all those odds, I was able to freakin' do it! Nate and Tanya's story, at 5,664 words. Most of my classmates have more than 10,000 words in their own stories, but I'm confident with what I have written. I think it has everything I needed to include, and Nate and Tanya were able to bring me to places I didn't think possible.

Pretty awesome feat, considering I started with this:

Now comes the next part. I have already sent my story to my beta readers and closest friends, and then I will wait for their honest comments about Once Upon a Post-It so I can apply the necessary changes, edit, and then prepare the cover. Until then, I will rest my hands and my eyes (the right side of my face has been twitching all afternoon, probably from lack of sleep) and hopefully work on my romance novella once my buqo YA story has been okay-ed.

I am so happy, you guys. ♡

Eyes on the prize

I have set tomorrow as the deadliest deadline of the Young Adult story I'm writing, and then I'm going to send it to my beta readers, rest my mind a bit, edit, and then come up with a cover. All these I need to do by Friday next week as everything would have to be sent to Mina on February 28. I'd like to make my own cover, if possible, so I'm taking a leave from work on the 27th to make sure I have enough time.

My body clock is messed up and I have been putting in less than three hours of sleep each night to work on my drafts, when all I want to do is watch movies, read What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and sleep.

As per my beta readers who read the first 1,199 words, I have a good start and it made them excited to read the rest of the story. One of them said I should tone down the choice of words a bit, though, so I'm scratching out 'ebullience'. Note to self: keep it simple. One of them also said she can see too much of myself in the Main Character. I guess that's not bad, but I would like to separate myself from her as much as I can. But, so long as I don't end up with a Mary Sue, then I think it's okay.

I'm happy with the reception so far; several friends have asked me to send them a copy once done, and that feels extremely flattering. Not finishing this would be a waste, so I better stop procrastinating due to my paralyzing fear that my story is not good enough and just keep writing.

The thing with working on a story, sometimes your mind flies and takes you to a completely different world where other characters reside. I was so inspired after I saw Comet the other night that I dreamt of new dialogues that won't fit my YA characters so I'm parking them for now. I'm hoping to get back to them for a different story, preferably for the romance novella I started last year.

Now I'm drinking homemade milk tea and getting back to work once I hit Publish on this post.

Ah, last minute panic. The Great Motivator. I'm totally going shopping for a new dress when I finish this.

See you on the other side! That other side hopefully being The End of this have-yet-to-be-titled YA story.

Of comets, parallel universes, and undeniable chemistry

Being the master of procrastination that I am, I watched a movie instead of churning out more pages for my story. I feel guilty, but assuage myself by saying it's all for the sake of research. Sometimes I feel like I'm just putting it [writing] all off because at the back of my mind I really don't believe that I can do this, but it's times like this that I take out my pen and notebook and write the doubts away.

When my characters don't want to talk to me, I relax and get to know other characters instead. And oh boy, I felt like the two characters of Comet came to my room and whisked me away to a field of feels.

Steph and Dell's story is told over the course of a 90-minute film that, like a painting, doesn't really have a beginning, middle, or ending. Starting in medias res, it constantly jumps back and forth their relationship's high and low points.

Unconventional yet realistic and sweet yet bitingly bitter, Comet almost had everything I want in a movie about love set in the modern world – like conversations that stretch on about topics that I myself have wanted to ask people, trains, serendipitous meet-cutes, and the idea of parallel universes. Also, the dialogue and chemistry between Justin Long and Emmy Rossum. Oh god the dialogue. Some people may say movies like this are full of pretentious drivel, but only because it has an experimental film feel to it. It's easy to overdo these things, but yeah, I can listen to Justin and Emmy talk all day. Not as much as I loved listening to Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy of the Before trilogy talk, but you get the picture. It has a meta quality to it that I liked, with undertones of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, {500} Days of Summer, and Celeste & Jesse Forever. Heartbreakingly beautiful, this one.

Huh, for someone who "can't form a valid opinion" because she's "feeling all the feels," I actually said a lot. Oh well, time to go back to my characters Tanya and Nate.

Robinsons Beauty Fair 2015: In the Mood for Love

Just in case you missed it, it's Beauty Fair season again in Robinsons Department Store! Time to hoard and stock up on your favorite beauty products and personal care essentials once again!

Just like all the other previous RDS Beauty Fairs, you can expect huge savings and lots of freebies when you shop at the Beauty Department. Most notable are the following:

UNILEVER

FREE Striped yellow/blue/pink bag for every P250 worth of Creamsilk and Sunsilk products

FREE Brown leatherette bag for every P750 worth of Pond’s products

FREE Black sling bag for every P200 worth of Unilever Men products

FREE Wash and Wear pouch for every P200 worth of Unilever lotions (February 15 - March 15)

FREE Black leatherette tote bag for every P750 worth of Tressemme’ products

FREE Black & white canvass tote for every P300 worth of Dove products

FREE pouch for every Close Up/ Pepsodent 100ml toothpaste

PLUS a chance to WIN P10,000 worth shopping spreeat Robinsons Department Store! when you avail of any 3 Unilever exclusive promotions

PROCTER & GAMBLE

FREE Olay Total Effects Foaming Cleanser 50g when you buy Olay Total Effects Cream Regular 50g or Olay Total Effects Cream with SPF15 50g (selected stores only)

FREE UV Umbrella For every P800 worth of participating P&G products

KOJIESAN

10% off on featured products

MAYBELLINE

10% off on Hypercurl mascara

10% off on selected Colorshow lipstick

P50 off on all BB Creams

30% off on all items worth P250 and above when you buy one White Super Fresh two-way cake (February 16-28)

Buy 2 for P660 Lip Polish

P50 off on make up remover

COLGATE

Buy 2 for P149 Colgate Plax Peppermint 250ml mouthwash

FREE 1 Slim Soft Dual Action single toothbrush when you buy two Colgate Sugar Acid Neutralizer 122ml toothpaste.

L'OREAL

Save 100 when you buy a set of Dermafoam + Revitalift Toner Lotion

10% off on Revitalift Laser Night Cream 50ml

10% off on all True Match Liquid Foundation

Free P50 off on refill when you buy Mat Magique Two-way Cake Foundation

These offers are valid from February 1 to 28 in all RDS branches unless otherwise stated.

Did your eyes just pop at all those deals and discounts? Mine almost did! Trooping over the nearest RDS branch (mine's in Malabon Citisquare) because even though I have a mini pantry stocked full of beauty and personal care products, a girl can never have enough. ;)