That's Melbourne on the left and Sydney on the right. 6 months old and it's like raising twin boys - every 15 seconds we have to check what the ruckus is!
What's with the names? Jun and I both love Australia but Jun likes Melbourne better, while I like Sydney. So there. Standby for Tokyo...
Sometimes when you least expect it, life throws the ball your way and you just need to make the split-second decision to catch it.
Never would have thought of joining the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. It's not only that I didn't think I'd win, I didn't think I'd ever be able to put together an entry!
Last May, Jun told me that Palanca extended the deadline for entries. My reaction was something like, "okay, so?" He told me I should try. I laughed it off. I'm not the literary type and in college my writing gave me a C+ at best (except for that one film review that I did for Dr. Zhivago that got me an A even though I didn't even see the film!) Still, Jun egged me on. I had about 4 days til deadline. He said I can write a one-act play in that time, easy.
Easy? I don't even watch plays!
But day 1 and day 2 passed and for some reason, despite tons of work stuff to do, I did think about it - and wound up with a story. I just disregarded the fact that I don't watch plays and that I have never joined any writing competition before. I just thought of a story that I had a fair chance of telling: a comic book story.
I called it "Secret Identities" and it's about a closeted gay superhero and the day his boyfriend decided its time for them to get married.
And so, that was it. Day 3 and 4 saw me madly typing. And to cut a long story short, I didn't just make it to the deadline, I got Second Prize! Not bad at all for a first time writer!
Unfortunately, i couldn't upload a pdf file of it here so I'm posting the first 10 pages as jpegs. If you want to read the rest, just leave me a comment and let me know if you want me to email the pdf file to you.\
After the much talked about UP Film Center screening, Filipino writer-director Jun Lana's "Roxxxanne" was a hit at Robinson's Galleria. More screenings to come!
