First Post of the Year

This post was supposed to be about my wishes and similar sh*t for 2015, but because I didn't get to finish "Last Post of the Year" yesterday, I'm continuing it here. There might be another brownout today, so I'll keep this short. Below is the list of the best decisions I made in 2014. As I mentioned yesterday, they had something to do with writing and Kulaman Plateau.

5. I applied (and got accepted) to the 14th Iyas National Writers Workshop and the 53rd Silliman University National Writers Workshop. I had so much fun in the one-week Bacolod workshop because I took a leave from work, while I feel that I didn't have as much fun as I could have in the three-week Dumaguete workshop because I had to be online to work for twenty hours every week. Don't misinterpret me, however. The Dumaguete workshop is the most enjoyable of the five workshops that I've attended so far. You can find more information about the workshops in my other posts or somewhere else in the web, so I won't give so much details about them here.

4. I left Silliman University. I don't say this with bitterness or any ill feeling. In fact, I will always look back with fondness at the days I spent in the school and the city of Dumaguete. I didn't want to leave, but because I was studying, teaching, and working at the same time, I couldn't find the time to write, and it sort of defeated my purpose in being a teaching fellow at Silliman. I wanted to improve as an aspiring writer, but my time was used up on learning how to write instead of actually writing. I realized that I didn't need to have a master's degree in creative writing to write more and write better.

3. I left my work in Cebu. Again, this is a happy goodbye. I enjoyed the company of my office mates and the opportunities that my company gave me. For several months in 2013, I led a small team of technical writers in Cebu and Ahmedabad. It was challenging and memorable to work with Indian nationals, especially because we had to communicate through online meetings and long-distance calls mostly. It was fun. But I wasn't editing and writing what my heart yearned for.

2. I came back home to write. I was able to revise four old stories, write six new stories, update this blog regularly, and finish the first draft of a one-hundred-thousand-word novel. Four of those stories have been published in 2014 or accepted for publication in 2015.

1. I stopped drinking. I observed that I couldn't write for three to five days after getting drunk. Alcohol doesn't make me creative or prolific, and I just have no f*cking idea how Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, and their ilk did it. As for me, alcohol turns me into a zombie. One solution of course is to drink in moderation. But that won't work for me. Once I start, I can't stop. It must be in the genes. So the best solution is to stop before I start. This is not a New Year's resolution. I've been dry for the past few months, and I hope I'll continue to be for the rest of my life—or at least my writing life.