Read, Dream, Write

I started writing short stories in high school. There were four or five of us wannabes at that time. We were not part of the school paper, actually. Ours was just some sort of a secret writing society, perhaps influenced by a lit professor and Mr. Robin Williams in the "Dead Poets Society".

We typed a single copy of our works in a short size bond then passed it around for a selected few to read. There was no one to edit our works. So the readers’ gauge was purely on the imagination, not necessary on the literary. We were even hiding it away from our teachers’ eyes.

I remembered well the stories of Russian spies, Vietcongs and the slaughter of American soldiers. One even had stories about ninjas and samurais. The main characters were usually the jumbled spellings of our classmates’ names. It was fun. Really, really fun. I don't know if any of our works survived these days. Mine were already in ashes a decade ago. I wish I could have edited them and posted them in my blog.

Then, in some forum, a year ago, my interest in writing fiction resurrected. Anyone can write, so they say. In a flash, stories are created in our mind. Realities though bury them deep into our subconscious selves. Both worries and happiness hinder the flow of creative juices. It is in the in-between state that we are able to beautifully scribble our thoughts and the stories overflowing in our mind. You just have to write and write and write. It is not wrong to dream of becoming the next Dan Brown, Paulo Coelho or even J.K. Rowling. (grins)

So I wrote a love story. After 17 years, what I came up for my first story is about unrequited love. Shallow and mushy as it may seems, but who cares. But I know I should not dwell on one genre alone but learn to write and explore more.

Well, a year after my first short story, I was able to write 6 more; five in English and one in Cebuano. I plan to submit my Cebuano work on a local paper, so I won’t be posting it here until it gets published or trashed.

I'm not paid to read and write fiction. But the lure, especially now that I discovered the sites of some famous Filipino fictionists, is too tempting. I should finish the drafts in my PC, or I might lose them in the flood of numbers (my real work) and the new stories created in my mind. Multi-tasking is not that easy.