Writing Desk

© Photo by Leah Ranada

It being the eve of Philippine Independence Day, I made myself adobo, the beloved national dish, and think of how my perception of the holiday has evolved over the years. For most of my childhood, it’s just a date drilled into our brains at school. I later learned how flawed and fraught this occasion turned out to be. There’s a lot non-heroic things to be said about the person who led the proclamation, for instance, and the jubilant witnesses would learn in a few months that the islands have become an American territory. In my early years here in Canada, I wrote an article about this for a local free newspaper. Years later, I attempted historical fiction writing with Self-Segmenter.

If there’s anything to keep in mind, history is much more than than dates and statistics. They are stories, prone to being retold, revised, reimagined, much like a recipe for adobo.

Where I am, there is lingering sadness in the community from the tragedy that struck during the Lapu-Lapu Day festival last April. I was lucky not to be there and that no one I personally know was hurt in the incident. There is an outpouring of support, calls for mourning, prayers, healing. This will be a dark passage in history, too. Someday, I hope to read a story from someone who was there when it happened. For now, I could only offer well-wishes.

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Found Words

“…I have not asked for this burden.
I have not wished to alter the lay and order
of the stars, content to let the sun lord the skies,
the sea crawl at the foot of the hills, the eagle
soar no higher than the span of its sight.
Yet what needs to be done has to be done.
Not that I love you any less, you must
believe that, but I love our country more.
You, who have always fought for the good
of the many, should understand this…”

-Jaime An Lim, On the Eve of the Execution

Overwhelmed by research for your novel? There are a few ways you can organize your facts and figures. Insert them in your characters’ bios or match them to chapters by making temporary footnotes in your draft. Create an integrated timeline which intersperses your research with your fictional details. Remember that not all your research has to appear in your writing.

See previous Quick Tip.

About Writing Desk

Years ago, I gave up blogging for good. But I changed my mind and here we are. Aside from maintaining a consistent writing practice, my goal is to build a live space outside social media for content that supports the creative process, free of mindless, addictive, and AI-generated distractions.

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