Welcome!

Dear Readers,

Welcome to my official author website!

I’ve been writing for years, and it’s a true pleasure to offer this site to keep readers in the loop about my updates, stories or interesting tidbits with regards to my creative writing.

Soon I’ll be posting an announcement about DESTINED 15 which pertains to the first book I ever wrote that I’m really looking forward to sharing with you all. Until that announcement can be made, I thought I’d start off with the following Q&A.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I wrote one of my first short stories when I was around seven. At age twelve, my father bought me a typewriter, and even though I was lousy at typing, I enjoyed thinking up stories that I could type out two fingers at a time on that thing. I wrote my first novel when I was seventeen that was published years later. I had a few poems published in anthologies by the time I was eighteen and just kept on writing whatever popped into my head ever since.

WHY DO YOU WRITE?

I have no choice. Ideas for stories pop into my head, and I just feel compelled to write them down on paper. If I don’t, they’ll just get clogged up in my brain, and that sounds painful. I’m not a fan of pain.

How do you write?

When I get an idea, I can jot down the overall idea on anything handy at that moment. If I’m outside, I love to get flyers that are blank on the back because I write on the backs since I rarely carry an official writing notepad with me. I tried carrying little notebooks, but I fill them up too fast, and end up writing on receipts, etc again.

When I’m ready to create a manuscript, I write the very first draft of a story in longhand on looseleaf paper or in a notebook. Once everything is typed out, I make corrections, revisions and additions to the manuscript to create a final draft. I have to do it all in longhand first, and then I can transfer everything that I’ve written onto my laptop. I just can’t sit at a computer and create a story because the blank screen is annoying. A blank computer screen is demanding and arrogant. It practically screams at you, “Type something on me already! If you spell something wrong, I’ll alert you by putting red lines under whatever incorrect thing you do even if the word is actually spelled correctly because I don’t recognize all Proper Nouns. It’s not your fault that I don’t recognize all Proper nouns. I’m just a pain in the butt that way. I’m...”

Oh, sorry. I digress. I do longhand first. Type on computer later.

I prefer to write during the late afternoon or evening time, and then I type during the day. I’m not telling you what type of pajamas I wear when I’m writing, but yes, I am one of those writers who prefers to write in my pjs.

What kind of stories do you like?

I enjoy character driven intrigue with a touch of romance.

What are your hobbies?

When I’m not writing, I like to read, draw, paint and listen to music.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

First, decide what type of writer you want to be whether it is a poet, novelist, essayist, published or unpublished writer, etc. Then when you’re sure you know what you want, don’t let anyone, not even yourself, talk you out of it. And, of course, make time to actually sit down and write something. Nothing gets accomplished if you only talk about writing. Finally, making a dream come true is difficult. If you believe in yourself, always choose persistence over giving up.