Agonizing Over Writing

It does say on the right side of this blog that I am an unpublished writer.

That’s not necessarily true.

I’ve been published before – a couple of news stories about philandering policemen and another topic I’ve completely forgotten in the Manila Times during my internship in college, an article for the supplement section of the same newspaper, several supplemental articles as part of my work for ComputerWorld Philippines, press releases that got the green light while working for PJ Lhuillier and a couple of coffee-table book write-ups for Cebuana Lhuillier that became part of Superbrands 2 and the Philippines’ Greatest Brands.

However, none of these published works have been that satisfying. When I mentioned unpublished writer, I am referring to that writer in me that wanted to do fiction writing and not corporate, commercial crap. I can only consider myself a published writer when that day comes when a written piece of fiction done by yours truly gets published as a book or at the very least, a part of an anthology.

I’m still miles and miles away from reaching that end. To date, except for a couple of story outlines, all the fiction I’ve ever done is still inside my head waiting to be unleashed by ink on paper, or, at least get typed and saved into a Word document in my PC.

Though I do a lot of writing on a daily basis -- most of them have to do with work and currently, a lot of them sports-related. Prior to this blog today, I’ve completed an online contest proposal five pages long, and a couple of newsletter write-ups. If you consider forum-oriented written posts as writing then I’ve done several of these as well today. None of them were satisfying in the creative sense.

The main hindrance to doing the type of writing that I want to write is time. Nowadays, I don’t have much time to devote to writing as my free time is better spent resting or sleeping. I don’t even have the time (and sadly, the money) to buy and read a new, good book. Most of my time is devoted to work and doing chores at home. And don’t tell it’s a matter of time management because it’s not. It’s just that it’d be more practical and useful (and I’ll be a better husband) if I devote time to accomplishing chores that need accomplishing. Hopefully, when the household help comes within the next few months, I’ll have more time on my hand to devote to a craft that I know whose beginning is long overdue.

And just for those curious, what type or better yet, genre of fiction do I wish to delve in? I’m a lover of the fantastic genre – fantasy and science fiction. Others refer to it as speculative fiction – which is broader as this covers fiction that is sci-fi, fantasy, magic realism, social realism, slipstream, horror and gothic. This is the genre of writing that I wish to engage myself with.

My influences? JRR Tolkien and his Middle-Earth works top the list. Other influences include Frank L. Baum and his Oz series, David and Leigh Eddings, Frank Herbert and son Brian with their Dune saga, the Star Wars and Star Trek universes, Heavy Metal magazines, Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, Brian Jacques of the Redwall series, Justice League (and its Unlimited run), Quantum Leap, Isaac Asimov, DC Universe superheroes and comics, et al.

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In other news, one of the my favorite-people-to-read nowadays is fictionist Dean Alfar (www.deanalfar.blogspot.com) as he talks about fiction writing, work, and his family. He is sounding out a call for entries for possible inclusion for the second installment of Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 2.

His call for entries for the anthology has had me thinking about fiction writing again.

Hmm …