Macky Cruz's Blog, page 2

Metro Tarak Organ Scouts in Washington Square Review 52

Hello, fellow readers! My first speculative fiction short story Metro Tarak Organ Scouts is out now at Washington Square Review. This story is very hustlers be hustling in a future Philippines where selling organs is where it’s at. You’ll meet Kap, who will do anything to achieve “the good life” and Bok, who speaks organ, […]

In which I stream again and finally get somewhere

Story-wise, at least. It’s so gratifying to have that moment where I randomly backread the previous session’s output to reorient myself because I was stuck at one point in the current session only to find out I had already thought about the answer that time except I didn’t remember anything from the previous session! I […]

Scrolling detox update and new stream in which I hemmed and hawed

One hour of writing, by the end of it, feels insufficient, but I swear the first ten to fifteen minutes feel like early morning Mass. I do have to make better plans so I can do 2-hour sprints again (or more). I just haven’t been able to wake up wake up these days. I mean, […]

Bagong sulatin

Went to the doctor today and immediately felt my symptoms settle down a bit, effectively gaslighting myself so it felt like I was exaggerating everything I was feeling. Doctor was able to chalk some of it to post-Covid gland swelling, so we’re just going to wait for a bit for the symptoms to either disappear […]

Free again (from social media)

3 weeks of laundry, vacuuming, garbage bin refresh, returning books to my shelves, cleaning up: I was thinking of doing these during the weekend but none of that happened. Instead, I finished The Saint of Bright Doors (read my Goodreads review on it, I was feeling very strongly when I wrote is as that was […]

Look who’s still streaming

Compelling stuff over here LOL Wednesday night, I got the whole plot lined up for my next (self-imposed) project into the wee hours of the morning while trying to sleep. Kaya ako hindi makatulog e! Matutulog na lang nagpapaka-productive pa. I don’t recommend it, but when it happens, masaya naman. Bwisit ka nga lang the […]

Look who’s streaming (Day 2)

Still wonky on the lighting pero madaming narating writing-wise in fairness kapag hindi mo “focus” ang writing (kasi focus ko na makapag-focus dahil nagsi-stream) mas playful ang approach ko sa pagsusulat. Ang weird! Parang that quote about that sideways pursuit of happiness. Baka magstream sa YouTube at Twitch nang sabay kapag sanay na. Hindi ko […]

42nd National Book Awards Finalist (Best Novel in Filipino) ang Hoy, Pong!

(Ang featured image ay galing sa pagbating post ng Avenida Books.) Ayus! Napasali ang nobela kong “Hoy, Pong!” bilang finalist sa kategoryang Best Novel in Filipino ng 42nd National Book Awards ng National Book Development Board–Philippines at Manila Critics Circle. Nasa 326 na libro ang na-nominate (sabi ng GMA news online), at kung tama ang […]

Look who’s streaming

Posting my first and ugly test stream here to figure out if I like doing it after a few weeks. Don’t watch it, the audio sucks and I cough a lot in it. I’m not exactly aural but even I got very annoyed by both my voice and the keyboard sounds. Some new mic is […]

Things I learned from reading for Escape Pod

I’ve learned by being in writing discussion groups that have pro (authors who’ve been paid market rates in exchange for the right to publish their stories on a venue) writers in them (who don’t know me) that submitting to venues is a super important part of getting published. I say that without cheekiness, because for […]