i am writing as fast as i can, this is probably the future of my writing, the 'pressed for time' writing, the 'i have a lot of other things to do' type of writing, that's why i would never get published unless perhaps, i'd be so rich i could buy  my own printing press and publishing house. my reality is this: i  need to earn my living, my age is the age of quick glance, a quick hello, a quick hamburger, and a quick scan of books
    but because i love the art of writing and fiction, i  sit here in front of my computer and type away my free hours, i think i am in heaven in doing so, i feel as heavenly as when i go to school, or when i spend my time with friends, or checking this and that, or web designing(my new passion), so pardon me if you find my thoughts rambling all over sometimes, and i don't want to be deluded into thinking i follow jack kerouac style, all i am is a  busy guy
   who loves to share thoughts with people - that's why i am thankful to the filipino writers who got me started in internet writing, now there's a guy named ken ilio,

  read ken ilio's story in contemporary fiction by filipinos in america edited by cecilia manguerra brainard

he got me into kabaklaan writing and i never had so many admirers since then, (oh maybe ten), i was exchanging e-mails with him so casually i thought he's just as ordinary as moi, well, ken ilio is the son of The Dominador Ilio, this ken, the son, is not a starnger to publishing himself, he even  singlehandedly built Tanikalang Ginto, I didn't know until later i was dealing with one of the pioneers of internet philippines; ken always encourages me to get published, well...i kept on sayng yes, but didn't really have the time nor the patience to revise and revise and revise; i only wanted to express myself; it was ken who gave my name  to the Flips list writers circle,  i can't thank ken enough
   but before ken and the internet, i  had a lot of  drive to get published, oh yeah, i've written novels in my broken english as early as in my freshman year in college and passionately vowed to get published ASAP no matter what, i searched far and wide  for an editor and a publisher and even went to a workshop which i hated because the teacher told me to change all my philippine settings into miami settings, because she said, "i'm teaching you how to write a blockbuster."
    so one night i got a hold of cecilia manguerra-brainard's when the rainbow goddess wept and hagedorn's dogeaters; 

jessica hagedorn's dogeaters

i read from maguerra-brainard's book back cover  that she is based in California, in a city i barely remember now...and being pinoy, i just dialed the operator and sought her number, and believe it or not, she answered : and  i asked her if she can refer me to a book editor, (though what i really wanted was an english grammar editor) and she referred me to uc berkeley fiction department or something, honey I WAS THAT DESPERATE; the following day, all my american co-workers were shocked  worried because, they said, you don't call somebody just like that in america; well, oh yes i could, i said, we are filipinos in america, talk about being smart---
     cecilia has been very supportive and encouraging with my writing (they all are) and i'm so happy that none of the pinoy writers i have made contact with sits on a high horse; consider this - cecilia maguerra-brainard has a lot of years of experience in publishing and writing and teaching and i heard her book when the rainbow goddess wept 

cecilia manguerra-brainard's when the rainbow goddess wept

has been reprinted (this is important for every writer); i congratulate her; she has been promoting Philippine writing in the US long before I contemplated writing my first novel; she has a site you can check.
     now for this web site, i am really dead set in providing a venue for the promotion of pinoy authored books, it's  like a mission to me - whenever i hear about a pinoy book, i always try to get hold of it, read it (more likely scan it nowadays due to my recent return back to school on top of my full time job as PT)
   to you pinoy authors, if you've got press  releases, don't hesitate to send them to me; we should start a pinoy readers' circle, a mailing list for pinoy book lovers and access to internet pinoy bookstores - and this may sound ambitious,  a Pinoy Reader's Newsletter!
   yes my friends, we must secure a bright future for our Pinoy writers. We must start looking at them more intently and get rid (for a while) of our misgivings - i still hear lots of self-flagellating-guilt-laden- inferiority-complexed-pinoy readers and writers; of course some of our books are bad! it's hypocritical of me to say all our writers and books are good; but to judge a book without buying and reading it is not only bad,  it's a sin.
     before i get carried away, and since this week is about bino realuyo's the umbrella country and the author himself, i'm gonna start with one fact - i never met bino, though it seems i've met everybody who knew and met him. i first enocutered bino through his poetry posted on the net via tanikalang ginto, then i encountered this poem: 

   i  never saw so much imagery in so few lines, and the imagery was oh so beautiful, sensual and frightening, so...i sent bino an e-mail. lucky me! i had a response;  as was always the case, i assumed bino was an internet writer  just like moi;
    then ken got me hooked to the flips list serve and discovered cecilia and bino as members; got corresponding with cecilia again mainly to ask about books and some silly remarks like - "cecilia, do you remember me?" what would i lose anyway, cecilia is a fictionist, she'd understand aspiring writers like me; i continued corresponding with other flips writers and playing around with my computer which is now a toy to me,
   i played first with my compositions, later drew my elementary pictures, then started designing my silly web pages, etcetera; i always have this horrible habit of writing long stories which i know no one would read, i really didn't care, AND  i lost all my desire to get published, realizing, quite satisfactorily, that all i wanted was self expression. the internet provided me all that.
    and this self- expression could be anything - i write, then post it, then withdraw it, like a scientist implementing a trial and error experiment; and i found this form of self expression to be safe, first i'm still using a pen name; second, i write without fear of  editors checking me out, and i just release all the necrotic tissues of my daily grind at work; i have co-workers who design web pages about fishing and football; gay friends who design web pages showcasing their muscles, and me well, here it is...my love of fiction; we always agree that as long as you love doing what you do, keep doing it.

Alex Maskara