I
CAN WRITE in closed forms, and fixed structures.
I can write novels, short stories, plays, screenplays.
Those genres that require a dramatic arc.
But I like to play in my poetry.
*
I can also write feature stories, and essays on specific themes.
But people like my writing when I do the stream of consciousness.
Because I am rather unpredictable.
And I can take my readers to intellectual and literary delights they don’t even
dream of.
*
These days, when I write for Panay News,
I just sit by my kitchen table with my laptop (sometimes with my iPad, and a
remote keypad on bluetooth), and coffee from my Keurig coffeemaker.
I start writing, and let my mind wander.
I write whatever inspiration leads me to.
*
But here’s the thing:
I feel that I’m only writing for the public who already know me.
People who have been reading me in the last 19 years.
So they know my story.
Or stories.
I write for a fan base.
*
And I write to entertain them because they already expect it from me.
Occasionally, I’d write something profound.
But they also expect that.
They know that I am a deep person, but also unpredictable.
*
In real life, I am spontaneous.
But I’m only spontaneous because in my reflective moments, I have already
charted my ten-year, five-year, two-year development plans.
*
People often ask me — How to be you po?
And I’m thinking, you cannot be me.
You cannot be like me!
To be like me, you have to suffer.
You have to be poor.
And determined.
And scheming.
*
You have to sacrifice.
And be smart.
And work smart.
You have to pay your dues.
You have to suffer betrayals.
You have to rise above mediocrity, and envy.
You
have to have succeeded.
*
You cannot be a Palanca Hall of Famer overnight.
And when you are a Hall of Famer, either of the Palanca awards or any other,
you cannot, and should not, be content.
I’m milking my Palanca glory because Palanca is something people understand.
*
People do not praise me for my philanthropy.
Nobody really loves me for The Peter Solis Nery Foundation.
(Some people take issue why I put my name up there.)
If at all, most people are jealous that I have my own Foundation.
(Again, the issue of my name in my foundation.)
But my idea — put your own money to your own charity, and create your own
foundation!
*
Anyway, after a sip of coffee, I looked up from writing this article, and
checked my Facebook.
My posts from three days ago are still getting liked.
I think I would like to share them here because they’re fun.
*
“I can’t twerk. But, at least, I’m no longer a virgin.”
144 reactions so far.
98 got the humor right, and reacted with the laughing emoji.
But one did the crying emoji. What gives?
Six wowed it, eleven ‘hearted’ it.
28 ‘liked’ it.
I find it amusing how people react to my posts. Haha.
*
“Between birth and death — Love.”
It’s a simple truism, but somebody begged to be profound about it.
Argued something about between love and love is birth and death because love is
infinite on both ends (before birth, and after death).
I was pretty amused with the comment.
And I only meant that we are born, and we die, but in between, we must navigate
with love, and loving.
I mean, that’s what I do with my life.
*
“Ayoko na ng mabait na boyfriend, gusto ko na lang ng gwapo at magaling
magtrabaho.”
81 reactions — 28 laughter, 13 hearts, 4 wows.
And I can’t explain the 36 likes.
Sometimes, I feel that Facebook likes are lazy, illiterate, thoughtless
reactions.
I also suspect auto-likes. Haha.
*
“Nice men have the same failure rate in relationships as handsome people, so
why not just go for hot and handsome?”
65 reactions. And again, 20 laughter, 8 hearts, 1 wow, 36 likes.
I’m not anti-ordinary-looking people.
In fact, I would prefer them to hot guys, for as long as the commonplace face
person is nice.
*
But lately, all the nice persons I’ve pursued have turned out to be jerks.
Imagine that—ordinary-looking jerks!
So, why not indeed go for hot jerks?
I mean, you still have 50% chance of getting a hot and sexy guy who isn’t a
jerk.
I mean, it’s Christmas time.
And I can wish, can’t I? (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
