When I turned thirty (shit, I’m dating myself here, but what the heck), I wrote down a list of things I wanted to accomplish at thirty-three. One of them—and I declared this publicly on a Facebook post LOL—was to publish a book. Just ONE book. At that point, I’d had already worked at three companies and even tried my luck at making and selling clay accessories at bazaars. And although I still dabbled in writing KPop and Kdrama-inspired fanfic, I was so, so far away from my dream of becoming a screenwriter or a published author.

So, medyo nag-settle ako. Sabi ko sa sarili ko, kahit isang libro lang, maisulat at ma-publish ko, okay na ako. I’ll have some copies printed to give out as gifts, and one of them can stay with me as a souvenir. As a reminder that I was able to accomplish that dream kahit paano.

I love telling this story when someone asks me about my self-publishing origins. I was heading home from work, walking through ShangRi-La EDSA to the MRT station, and saw a kiosk of Summit books and magazines. Without really thinking about it, I snapped a photo of the books on display and posted it on my Instagram. Shortly after, one of my high school classmates, Jeni, commented on my post saying one of the books on the photo was written by her cousin.

Her cousin is Mina V. Esguerra.

Long story short, that one photo led me to knowing who Mina was, enrolling in her publishing class almost a year later, and joining #RomanceClass after that. Ten years later, here I am, trying to finish a new manuscript and getting ready to release a special illustrated cover edition of another book for (hopefully) Manila International Book Fair. It’s been an interesting and rewarding journey for me so far. I’ve learned so, so much, and I want to share some of the things that have kept me going.