Mina V. Esguerra's Blog, page 18

I’ve been watching movies

Hi #romanceclass, if you'd like to join the Pinoy movie watch parties I'll be organizing, please reply to this post with "Me!" and I'll add you to a GC or something

#AprilFeelsDay2020 Thoughts and Feelings

We did it! We organized and broadcast our first online version of April Feels Day! Whew!

If you’re familiar with #RomanceClass at all, you’d know that a lot of what we do happens online anyway. So the two annual in-person events (April Feels Day and Feels Fest in October) are the rare times when we invite about a hundred people to hang out and celebrate the books together. While tiring, I love our events, I love them lots, and would not take away from what we enjoyed and learned from those! However I want to acknowledge the interesting things we now had access to, because we took our event online.

The full video is still up at twitch.tv/romanceclass, and I broke down the program with direct links to the video at certain points in this Twitter thread.

Anyway. Cool things:

No venue rental expense.

We can replay the online broadcast — comments in that chatroom included.

Seven authors got to launch their books in the middle of enhanced community quarantine.

Eight actors/performers got to be part of the program, and still be compensated for their participation.

Readers who haven’t been able to attend an event because of location finally had an option. And the video remaining up means people from anywhere (with internet access) can still watch it.

Over 200 people dropped by the stream when it was live. That is more people than we normally even anticipate when looking for venues.

We have all sorts of data, like unique viewers, peak periods, how long people stayed to watch.

Speaking for myself here but: I felt the love and support from everyone, even as I was home, and everyone else was home. And I don’t just mean the people who typed in the chat room and tagged me on Twitter and posted a selfie. This kind of event shows an organizer like me how people show up, in other ways, and maybe quietly, but they’re there. Thank you. (Eventually if you want to say hi you can do that!)

There are many conversations happening right now over what the future of publishing will look like, and I don’t mean for us to take away that it will now be this. This, actually, should have been an option we were offering people all along, concurrently with events that were held in Manila. If we continue to do this, it’s just us catching up and serving an entire set of people who wanted to try this out but didn’t have access to it. I’m going to think of this as we plan more events for the community.

I mean we totally miss actually being in the same space together and look forward to being able to do that again. Safely. But what we found here is valuable too. Or maybe, again, it’s because we did it for readers and fellow authors, for us, and when we focus on that, things really do have value. Thank you.

At the beginning of every event I do a quick introduction to #RomanceClass and what the event is for. Here’s that same thing (but a little different) because it’s for the 2020 online event:

And here are the end credits for the broadcast. The stream was directed by Miles Tan.

You can watch the full video at twitch.tv/romanceclass, and order print editions (in the Philippines) at kilig.pub/kiosk. For digital editions, the books are available worldwide, get the list of links here at romanceclassbooks.com.

A note to my publisher of ten years (who is me, I am my publisher)

Fairy Tale Fail celebrated its 10th year in publication, which means it’s also my 10th year as an indie author, aka a self-publisher.

I almost didn’t write this post, because hello, this blog has documented the entirety of my 10-year indie author career. You and I, reader, were in this together from the beginning! I self-published my second book because of several reasons: 1) someone encouraged me to do so, 2) I discovered an easy way to do it, and 3) I’m not very patient.

Number 3 has been the “reason” for so many things I’ve tried. I get bursts of energy that may last days at a time, and suddenly I start so many things. And that’s why self-publishing has been a great match for me, because I will get energized and try new things, and when I lose that steam, I can delegate things to someone else. Working this way means I get to set my own goals, and targets, and adjust them based on what I want to learn. Many of my publishing partnership contracts were for 5 years. To be honest I’ve only felt the same kind of energy from a publisher in the first year of a new book’s life, and never after that. But I also understand why it works that way, when you’re in charge of many titles and are accountable to other people.

I’m glad I somehow found my way to a method of creating and publishing that I find kinder, more collaborative, more flexible. Ten years later, I still love what I do, and I don’t resent my publisher (who is me). I’ve seen some cool successes but there’s more to do, and I can aim higher. It’s not all cute rainbows, though, because believe me there’s tremendous resistance at every stage here, and you can be doing this for 10 years and still get treated like you’re new and know nothing. But I’ve found enough people who have inspired me and given me hope. And maybe the new thing I learned is that what we made together? Is fine. Is great. Is wonderful. Is what we will keep doing.

And the plans for other things, new things, we’ll do that as soon as everything is ok, everyone is ok. As my own publisher I get to adjust the target, and I’m not looking at books published or sold. I’ll be fine just seeing people be ok.

Thank you for being part of this. I hope you too are ok!

#AprilFeelsDay2020, because we need this

Adjusting is a thing we do. The first ever April Feels Day in 2016 was itself an adjustment, a thing we started when existing spaces and events felt like they were not for us. Each April and October event after that, and those in between, were experiments in everything from program to venue to entrance fee to event hours to sponsorship model. FeelsFest2019 was, I remember thinking, the most efficient event we’d run. (Efficient is a complicated metric, but that event hit all the right targets.) I started planning April Feels Day 2020 based on that model, and it was working out.

And then COVID-19 happened, and a quarantine, a lockdown, and changes to the way we do events that I haven’t even started to sit with and really figure out. I just know that this is serious, and we are going to adjust.

So this year, April Feels Day will be an online event. (Sign up here to join! It’s free. Attend from your home, or anywhere! But please sign up so we can send you details.)

We were already as a community rolling out various “virtual events” so we can be more connected to readers and authors who aren’t in Manila, and actually to just be more connected to each other even if we are in Manila, insert traffic complaint here. In August we had an entire month of Twitter lectures, “virtual panels,” author Q&As. We’re always thinking of how to fold these into the April and October events, and let more people participate. Our “extras” for April Feels Day 2020 became Plan A all of a sudden–and now we have new things to be excited about.

If you’re a #RomanceClass author launching a book, you will still get to do that (and I should have emailed you your assignment by now). If you haven’t told me that you’ll be launching (LOL), please do, so I can tell you what you have to do.

What about the program, the live readings? We haven’t announced what happens with that, but I can hint that it’ll still involve Gio Gahol, Rachel Coates, Jef Flores, Gab Pangilinan, Migs Almendras, (and more, hang on).

We can still take orders for print books, as well as connect you to the artists and sellers we usually have. Fulfilling these orders will depend on the safety and supply situation of our printers and crafters, but we’ll offer online options as much as possible. (Easy for ebooks and digital giveaways and art commissions!)

If this is your first time attending a romanceclass event, and/or you want to help us test a thing, and/or you just want something else to do soonish, how about you drop by at twitch.tv/romanceclass on April 4, 6 PM PH time?

See you, I hope!

Does it seem like this is a lot of work being done right when we’re facing lots of anxiety and uncertainty? Why yes, it is a lot of work–and it also isn’t. I do this because it’s always a bright spot in my day, my week, my half-year, to plan something for romanceclass. It’s so easy to do now because the people we do this with, and for, is a group that keeps growing. This is the result of people sharing a little bit of their time, and a lot of their sincerity. This show will go on however way it can. We adjust.

On Print Books and Online Reading (February 2020)

Sometimes I get asked things, and I inform my interviewers that I will be posting the Q&A on my web platforms or social media. Will leave this here for now (answers are mine!): 

How do [you] see the future of Filipino printed novels?
Print books are expensive to produce, our distribution options have almost disappeared, and publishers now ask for a minimum threshold of online popularity before considering investing in new authors. This means print books will remain but only a certain kind of story will be published. Anyone else will need to look elsewhere and that’s fine—the world of publishing has many opportunities outside of print and bookstores.

What do you think of the growing trend of online reading?
I don’t think it’s a “trend” now. It’s already the industry standard.

Do you prefer printed books over e-books? Why? 
I read and buy more ebooks per year than print books, because of convenience. I read 106 books last year, but bought less than 10 print books. I am even more of a reader and a supporter of authors now, just not a large supporter of print in comparison. The stories are the same and the authors earn more.

After 10 years, do you think printed novels would still be in demand? Why?
Any book should be in any format that the reader wants it in. When I want a book, I check if it’s available as an ebook, or print, or audiobook. I think anyone studying publishing, or working in publishing, should stop arguing about print vs any format, and instead work on making books available in ALL formats.

What piece of advice will you give to the readers who prefer e-books over printed books?
That’s great! You are the future of publishing! Now demand better quality books, in all formats!

Reading Filipino in 2019

In August of this year, RomanceClass did a challenge to read/watch/listen to Filipino creations, and we had a bingo card for it. I participated here as much as I could but didn’t include my selections in my regular reading list. Some of these are quick reads, essays, not in English, or not books at all, and I wasn’t sure how to consolidate that with my reading list which is mostly romance and/or in English (because that’s professional development you see).

This exercise lets me dip into other genres, and other communities, that aren’t usually part of my reading. Doing that has been both encouraging and a kick to the gut. Knowing that a work exists to fit even the most specific prompt on a bingo card, but then also realizing that I only went looking for it for the first time in my life because of a specific prompt on a bingo card.

Every single year, several times a year, a Filipino creator will question the lack of support they get, and when they do, IMMEDIATELY ASK THEM TO TALK ABOUT THE KIND OF SUPPORT THEY GIVE. Some creators say “community” when they mean “customer.” I have had to explain many times that I don’t mind being seen as a customer. I am one! I buy and read and support! I also get to opt out when the work is mediocre as what may happen when the creator is out of touch with its audience. I’ve needed to navigate this as a creator myself. The kind of work this requires means anyone who does it recognizes when people are only pretending to do it. We’ve had to learn to be honest when we say “community,” or see through the pretense when faced with it, to find real community and real support. If this at all feels familiar, it’s okay to sit down and just be a consumer also. Maybe we shouldn’t be leaders of everything.

For this bingo card challenge I was primarily a customer, but I hope the card (that Tara Frejas made) and what #RomanceClass authors and readers posted on Twitter helped these books and works find their homes and audiences. Here’s what I was able to do:

For SOCIALLY RELEVANT, I read Lupang Ramos, an anthology of essays/narrated history by and of women living as farmers and activists in Cavite. Gantala Press https://t.co/E97f2o8Ad7 pic.twitter.com/pdYs0ViUl6

— Mina V. Esguerra (@minavesguerra) August 1, 2019

For COMICS BY A FEMALE ARTIST I read Other People by Jess Guaco and Comics Convention by Hulyen, both in Kommunity 2017 by Komiket #romanceclassBAPBingo pic.twitter.com/CCHcvV4agz

— Mina V. Esguerra (@minavesguerra) August 1, 2019

For MAIN CHARACTER/S NOT (COMPLETELY) HUMAN
Kambal: La Calavera Catrina by Budjette Tan and Ian Sta. Maria
Bakunawa by Ma-I Entico #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy #romanceclassBAPBingo pic.twitter.com/v4pJjSi2Nb

— Mina V. Esguerra (@minavesguerra) August 1, 2019

For CONTEMPORARY FILM DIRECTED BY A WOMAN I re-watched The Achy Breaky Hearts (dir. Antoinette Jadaone)#BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy #romanceclassBAPBingo https://t.co/IePe3JeAs6

— Mina V. Esguerra (@minavesguerra) August 1, 2019

For POETRY COLLECTION, Kapag Naibig at iba pang mga tula by Abel Cribe #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy #romanceclassBAPBingo pic.twitter.com/lRtcUSMU0z

— Mina V. Esguerra (@minavesguerra) August 2, 2019

For SONG COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY A FEMALE MUSICIAN, Womb by Sugar Hiccup (Melody del Mundo)#BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy #romanceclassBAPBingo https://t.co/q2Q8cOb5s2

— Mina V. Esguerra (@minavesguerra) August 2, 2019

For HEALTHY/QUIRKY FAMILY DYNAMICS: Raya and Grayson's Guide to Saving the World by @thenoobwife, releasing soon but I've already read it, and am counting it in my bingo card haha. Watch out for this #RomanceClassFlicker book

My Year in Books 2019, an explanation

This has been my best year of reading. Ever! I have never read more than a hundred books in a year. (I don’t count the ones I helped publish, or manuscripts that may still be revised. Just published books or advance copies.) I didn’t even set a goal to read more necessarily, but it just happened, because of the following choices:

DNF right away. It’s okay for a book to not be “for me.” Sometimes I skip to a later chapter, to see what it’s like when the story has truly gotten rolling, and sometimes I go back and stick to a book that way, knowing it gets better, instead of hoping it does. But usually, DNF happens. And it’s okay to try again with a different book by the same author, this works for me too.

Read more audio. My Scribd subscription includes a number of audiobooks per month, and I have an excellent enough selection to meet my allocation every month. That is, if I don’t think about what I’m missing that’s exclusively on Audible. But most trad-pubbed YA and historical romance are there and promptly, which is awesome because those are the books I normally don’t buy or read as individual book purchases either in print or digital anymore. The reason apart from cost by the way is heat level, I can handle slow burn better when it’s audio.

Read more new-to-me indie Filipino authors and Filipino romance. These would tend to be shorter work just because of how we publish here, so that adds to the numbers and quickly. But more than that, I’m happy to start finding people whose stories I get. As a Filipino reader I started out acting like supporting Filipino authors was a chore, and by now I can be that person who says it’s not a chore, but a Choice. I’ve found the creators whose work speaks to me and there will be more. I don’t have to marginalize my own country’s creators on my reading list.

Read with a goal. This year I was invited to be one of the judges of The Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romance Fiction and that meant I made the same choices but moved to the top of my TBR books that were published in 2019. Tangent: This has been liberating in an unexpected way because in previous years I’d spend a lot of time catching up to the romance “canon,” buying and reading books that I somehow missed because I grew up in the Philippines and lived in a non-romance-reading household. Some of these modern classics don’t hold up, and I feel like I caught the late bus only to arrive at the after-party, where people are talking about a party that I still never saw or experienced. This year when I did read to “catch up,” I read Beverly Jenkins, and saw not just what she had been doing for decades, but what else needed to be done. I knew I was late, but I felt included, recognized how I could still participate. I feel it’s changed me.

Now, I post reviews and reactions while reading. I used to tell people that I don’t review books, because I was managing a community and wanted to be “neutral.” Years later, I see value in stating my opinions again, because I always had them (I didn’t stop having an opinion just because I chose not to post my review) and because I feel it helps our writing community when we talk about how to make books better. One way to be an example for that is to actually talk about what I like and don’t like. When you do this, and someone tells you to “be quiet and just support,” you know those books and authors aren’t going to be worth your time. Based on analytics my threads and review posts are getting a lot of views, but more than that, in this industry there is value in being out there as a Filipino reader who actually reads and can talk about what they’ve read.

Something I’m still figuring out: How to talk about bad rep. For all the things I talked about above, I have an exception. I finished a book that wasn’t for me, despite knowing from chapter 1 it wasn’t for me. I didn’t publicly post my reaction, but shared my opinions to a private group. This is a book backed by a big publisher, which means it’s one of the few books that will partially represent me and has the machinery to be the most visible book that partially represents me, and the rep is offensive to me. I had to finish the book because I wanted to see if it got better, if it became less offensive, and it didn’t. I haven’t figured out how to talk about this, but since books with better rep are out there, I’m glad I probably don’t have to ever talk about it.

OK now for my faves! Including Amazon links because they would most likely be there, but please buy from the store you prefer, if any of these interest you. Listing in order of when I read them.

Favorite erotica/erotic romance:

Editor’s Note by Delilah Fisher

Heat by Mandie Lee (Tagalog, Precious Hearts website)

Indecent…Trilogy by Jane O’Reilly

Private Eye by Katrina Jackson

Benefriends by Chencia C. Higgins

Just Past Two by Elia Winters

All Together by Brill Harper

Neighborly by Katrina Jackson

Everything else that Katrina Jackson has written

Favorite historical:

At His Lady’s Command by Nicola Davidson

The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles

Destiny’s Surrender by Beverly Jenkins

Miss Dominguez’s Christmas Kiss and Other Stories by Lydia San Andres

The Henchmen of Zenda by KJ Charles

Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles

Sugar Moon by Jennifer Hallock

Peter Darling by Austin Chant (out of print right now)

Vivid by Beverly Jenkins

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas

Favorite Graphic Novels:

Check, Please! Book 1 by Ngozi Ukazu

I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib (not romance)

Sagala 1 to 4 by Tori Tadiar (Gumroad)

Favorite contemporary:

You, Me, U.S. by Brigitte Bautista (romanceclass)

Can’t Escape Love by Alyssa Cole

Luck of the Draw by Kate Clayborn

The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker

No Two Ways by Chi Yu Rodriguez (romanceclass)

A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole

Stealing Luna by Carla de Guzman (romanceclass)

Stay A Little Longer by Dawn Lanuza (romanceclass author)

Play It By Ear by Tara Frejas (romanceclass)

Kitten by Jack Harbon

American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera

Stay With Me by Tara Frejas (romanceclass)

Trashed by Mia Hopkins

Not Another Family Wedding by Jackie Lau

He’s Not My Boyfriend by Jackie Lau

Getting Schooled by Christina C. Jones

Xeni: A Marriage of Inconvenience by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Lush Money by Angelina M. Lopez

Tiny House, Big Love by Olivia Dade

Alta: A High Society Romance Anthology by Carla de Guzman, Bianca Mori, and Suzette de Borja (romanceclass)

Open House by Ruby Lang

Favorite YA:

Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz

YA that I helped publish:

Flipping the Script by Danice Mae P. Sison (romanceclass)

Raya and Grayson’s Guide to Saving the World by Catherine Dellosa (romanceclass)

Ongoing series following one couple:

Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews

The Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas

Favorite audio (linking to Scribd, my invite link for 60-day trial) :

Becoming by Michelle Obama narrated by Michelle Obama

The Henchmen of Zenda by KJ Charles narrated by Antony Ferguson

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas narrated by Bahni Turpin

Stay A Little Longer by Dawn Lanuza narrated by Kaleo Griffith

The Real Deal by Lauren Blakely narrated by Erin Mallon and Zachary Webber

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary narrated by Carrie Hope Fletcher and Kwaku Fortune

Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali narrated by Priya Ayyar and Tim Chiou

The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

That is a lot! A more comprehensive 2019 Reads list with affiliate links is here, because the year is not done yet and I’m still adding to it!

Writing Romance in Southeast Asia (thoughts after Tiny Lit Fest)

The description of our session, according to @thetinylitfest: Who loves Love? How does local culture, background, language, nationality influence the ways we express this universal emotion? Who better to answer these questions than romance novelists? ⁣
⁣
This event will see local halal romance writer Aisha Malik in conversation with invited author Mina V Esguerra, the winner of the Filipino Readers’ Choice Awards for Chick Lit in 2012 and 2013. The conversation will be hosted by the brilliant Sarah Ahmad Ghazali. ⁣

After meeting Dr. Kathrina Mohd Daud at IASPR in Sydney, and then Huwaida Ishaaq of Heartwrite Publishing when she visited Manila, we stayed in touch, exchanged books, and then this! Kat and Huwaida organized the Tiny Lit Fest in Brunei, and included panels on romance writing. I was excited to be part of this session, and I wanted to talk about everything. (Now that it’s over I can say that we managed to cover a lot of topics, but not absolutely everything! We only had 2 hours, after all.)

The session was also the launch of the new edition of Aisha Malik’s royal romance Jewel, about the prince of fictional Southeast Asian country Mekar, and the Mekaran-American “commoner” he falls in love with while at university. It’s told in two POVs, and is a great introduction to the way that the recognizable romance genre form can be adapted to make us (us in this case = southeast Asians) feel more comfortable writing it. It requires a calibration of whatever setting your mind is in when you read romance, at least that’s how I think of it–the main characters are almost but not quite what you expect from a romance book. And when I do see what’s different, I want to respect that difference. And I want to see what other authors from Brunei get to do with that space to make their own thing.

I brought a bunch of #RomanceClass books to display and talk about, because #RomanceClass authors deciding to write about what they care about has expanded our contributions to the genre beyond what anyone can plan. One person can’t be writing all the things…all readers benefit when many writers get to write the things.

The session was moderated by Dr. Sarah Ahmad Ghazali and if we managed to cover a lot of topics it was because she planned such a substantial menu for the session. From how we started as authors, to publishing possibilities, how we make it close to home, how we write intimacy, on pen names and anonymity, how much to explain, which words to use (even when writing in English). For the last two, I shared my position as of recently, that I’ve begun to write more comfortably integrating places, food, names, and other things that are specific to my setting, which tends to be Manila in my books.

I told them about Jennifer Hallock’s paper on the Regency chronotope of historical romance, and explained that writing with #RomanceClass has helped make it easier for each author to write a Philippines that requires less explaining, less centering of the foreign reader. Because our audience tends to read across several authors, and that means the “burden” of explaining is shared, and reduced. And, to be honest, really freaking cool, when you see the landscape of where you live and who you are being built in a genre, book by book.

I would love for more romance to be written reflecting life and culture in our region. The conversations during and after this session, and throughout Tiny Lit Fest, showed me that we here have a lot to say. We need to assure authors that writing the books is possible (and then show them how), and if anyone cares to read them (and the answer is us, that we will read them).

What I know from experience is that we get more books when we have authors reading, recommending, and supporting each other. Here are Aisha’s books, a great place to start! Thank you, Kat, Huwaida, Sarah, Aisha, everyone at Tiny Lit Fest.

There will be another way to read/support #RomanceClass while in Brunei–by looking for our books at Nollybook! All the books are on Amazon as well, links here: romanceclassbooks.com.

#romanceclass2019, congrats!

#romanceclass2019 was organized to raise funds for our new app project. All purchases of the romanceclass textbook in 2019 (even if they don’t join the class) will go to related project expenses. Link here: https://t.co/2pZVLd5wfF. Thank you!

— Mina V. Esguerra (@minavesguerra) August 31, 2019

We started a new class on September 1, as a way to help fund artwork and related expenses for a new romanceclass app. 27 author participants joined! The challenge was to write a contemporary romance novel in English, of at least 30,000 words, featuring Filipino characters, and a career that is not commonly seen in romance (or at least, associated with Filipinos in the genre). 6 authors were able to complete their drafts by November 30! More on those manuscripts in a bit.

But first, a note about how I run and manage the class:

If you’ve attended a #romanceclass before, then you know how this class went. All online, with a writing schedule and required submissions. When a submission (for example, an outline) is required and the participant doesn’t submit on time, they don’t receive the succeeding lessons. The submissions are also done through Google Form that I “turn off” at the deadline. By the way, this has been wonderful in terms of managing submissions for me, and I recommend it when I talk to people running similar online submissions, in case they can’t subscribe to professional tools to do it.

I’d like to talk about the “management” I needed to do. This has happened in other classes already, but I want to say something about it on my site, so people know that this happens and I have a process for it. And maybe, they try not to do it (sigh).

I require that people read romance and my books and romanceclass books before they join. Romance as a genre and Filipinos as authors are routinely undermined in this industry, even if romance is year after year one of the most successful genres. It is unfortunately common for participants to skip this requirement of reading the books and join classes I open, anyway.

So yeah, it’s not fun having to deal with people who have it all figured out, don’t care to read the books, but for some reason want to join a class. #romanceclass is not a class for non-romance readers who want to suddenly earn from romance. (I want people to think about why they feel entitled to our time and money in this way but disrespect the genre itself and what we’ve made.) It is a waste of time for all involved, and though the people and situations vary, I do have a process for it, and I will ask a participant to leave the class.

Again, something like this, if not exactly this, does happen every class, but I’m now mentioning it here.

OK, got that out of the way.

At the end of #romanceclass2019, we had 6 finishers! Here are the authors, working titles, and draft blurbs:

*Beki with the Good Hair (working title) by H. Bentham
Regie Cirilos is a small town parlorista known for two things: flawless makeovers and foolproof fixes for matters of the heart. Anyone who comes in at RegenCi Beauté Salon with split-ends and bad splits, manicures and marriages in peril, or just plain old singleness, and looking to be beautified will walk out transformed and ready for romance. Anyone except Regie himself, that is.

Not that he’s looking for a man to sweep him off his feet right now, though. He’s got bills to pay, cats to feed and gaggle of gays to keep employed. But the nights do get lonely sometimes, and Regie starts to think that maybe love isn’t really for parloristas like him.

Until Regie gets a customer complaint: Donn Piala’s date was a disaster after getting his hair cut by Regie. He doesn’t blame him though, as his hair never looked so good. And so he asks for something else to be done to his hair, or face, or nails for subsequent first dates, that all end up badly. Regie is baffled, why isn’t anyone falling in love with him? Why isn’t anyone getting mesmerized by his beautiful brown eyes and stunning smile?

Or is Regie just too distracted to notice that maybe the makeovers are actually working? And it’s working too well on the beautician Donn hasn’t asked on a date. Yet

The Half of You and Me by Clare Elisabeth Marquez
Yago and Selene are best friends. But senior year of college is taking their friendship to the hardest test since junior high.

Selene Ocampo is a strong, intelligent, no-nonsense woman. She volunteers as a teaching assistant for special needs kids at a small inclusive school for her SpEd degree, she bakes pie as a part-time job at Kape’t Aklat, and she babysits Yago – her fully grown, six-feet spinning dare-devil of a best friend.

Her life is what she makes of it and her friendship with Yago is one of the most important aspects of it.

Santiago “Yago” dela Costa is a man who pushes himself to the limits to the brink of snap. A mountaineer, a water polo varsity, and consistent dean’s lister, he sets his eyes to excellence, proving to the world he can be something despite being outside looking in. He’s been angry after finding out his parents left him to have families of their own. But he didn’t care, he believes doesn’t need anything or anyone.

Except Selene. In everything he does, his best friend Selene is always there to ground him.

Everything was fine for Yago and Selene until the lines went blurry and touches burn, until emotions that were in the deepest began to get out of control.

Until a kiss in the closet changes the rules.

Will you risk falling in love with your best friend?

The Love Complex by Mary Zambales
Techie-librarian Babs Galang lives in the apartment affectionately nicknamed the “Love Complex,” where tenants have a propensity for blasting ’90s R&B love songs throughout the building. Yet, she’s too focused working on her newest app to care about the noise level, much less hookups and romance. In fact, when the attractive Richie Sato moves in, who she vaguely remembers from a past conference, she couldn’t care less. Worse, due to some awkward miscommunication, their reunion is anything but sweet.

Babs has something better though — Aural Pleasure, the audio sex podcast that satisfies her more than any relationship could. Little does she know the voice behind it is none other than her new unwelcome neighbor. As the truth is revealed, Richie and Babs fumble their way through her meddling cousin and their own insecurities. Hate may turn to lust, but it’ll take more than hookups and ’90s nostalgia to turn their relationship into love.

*Never Not Like You (working title) by Meesh Salazar
All Valerie wanted to do that night was just to go home. But it seems like the universe conspired to give her all the bad luck it can give so she’d end up in a bus stop, shielding herself from the angry rain, where a friend that she hadn’t seen in five years coincidentally sees her and offers her the only rescue that she can have at that moment.

Joaquin is the nicest guy that a girl can ever meet—so nice that you might think that it’s a trap. Valerie believes that she had never fallen for this so-called trap yet, but she carried the heavy weight of his two broken promises from five years ago around like a punishment to herself. She eluded anything that can connect her to that man—including their small circle of friends, just so she can live a peaceful life and avoid the issue about his never-been fulfilled promises.

And now he’s here, offering her the help that she so desperately needed. Is she ready to be in close proximity with this deceptively alluring man once more?

And is he finally ready to deliver his promises to her?

The Choices We Make by Miel Salva
Dion James Lorenzo is the best HR Consultant in his team. To reward his hard work, he is allowed to use up his accumulated leaves before they get forfeited. Wanting to just stay at home and play video games, he packs his bags when a close friend asks him to house-sit. Only to realize it was a set-up so he could meet his friend’s neighbor— an old-flame who, unbeknownst to him, happens to be bearing his baby.

Project Manager Jaeyanna Ignacio is used to doing things on her own. But raising a newborn alone while keeping a job to ensure she can pay the bills is a different story. With her parents half-way across the globe, she will need all the help she can get when she delivers her baby. Even if that means reconnecting with her ex who doesn’t know about her pregnancy.

Faced with the daunting task of caring for a newborn, Yanna and DJ work together and in the process, rekindles old feelings. But when the demands of parenthood and the lack of trustworthy househelp requires one of them to give up working, they are thrown in the same situation that drove them apart the first time — who is willing to give up a good career?

Like We Used To by Nyx Santos
Airwoman Second Class Lovely Peralta knows that being granted a ten-day leave is a huge privilege for a soldier and she intended to use it to go home to her sick father, their three-year gap would have to be at the backseat.

This time, Lovely could try to be the daughter he wanted her to be—or could she, if it meant she needs to play nice with her ex-fiancé, also her father’s caretaker, Barangay Captain Allen Ruiz?

Suddenly, Lovely’s brand of tough seemed weak against the bittersweet memories of the life she left behind.

Congratulations, authors!

What’s next? Cake! Haha. Or your mini celebration of choice. Some people join #romanceclass just to write and finish something, and doing just that is totally fine.

For those who aim to publish or be published, whether they made the November 30 deadline or not, my recommended next step is to let go of your draft for a bit! Let it breathe, and let yourself enjoy things without thinking of it 24/7. Return to it with a fresh outlook, maybe after reading some good books or watching fun movies…and then go through your draft and think of what could make it better. This part is a lot of fun too.

Tiny Lit Fest, Brunei (December 2019)

December 4 to 8, 2019

Something new and exciting — I will be attending the first Tiny Lit Fest in Brunei this December, and will be featured in two of the sessions!

Writing Romance in Southeast Asia on December 6, and Masterclass with Mina V. Esguerra on December 8. More information about Tiny Lit Fest is here on their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetinylitfest