Personal – Page 15 – Tara Tries To Write

A Quarter of Myself

September 23, 2015 No Comments

Disclaimer: This post exists because a certain Filpina author named Caryn P. Santi tagged me over at Wattpad. 😛 I’m going to try my best to make this worth your while. <3

First, some ground rules.

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. (T: This is a looooong note.)

At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. (T: Dayum. That’s going to be difficult.) You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it means I want to know more about you.

Let’s begin.

1. I have a pet bunny named Max. Max Rusca.

There’s a Heneral Luna reference there somewhere. If you haven’t seen the movie, do it. Anyway, this is Max.

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He’s been with us for six months now, and we initially thought he was a girl until his balls dropped, freaking us out. I have never had a bunny before (I used to have dogs, adorable askals) so having him as a pet is an entirely new experience for me. Max is the reason why I thought of the initial concept for my #StrangeLit novella, even if it morphed into an entirely different thing altogether. He’s a sweetheart, and likes getting cuddles.

2. In high school, I had three orgs.

I was an official member of the dance club, and an honorary member of drama and glee. Before graduating, I penned a stage play for the high school drama club and got to help direct its very first run during my freshman year in college. After that, I also got to direct the glee club on their yearly concerts. Fun times. <3

3. Sometimes I got into trouble for writing fiction . . .

. . . because I would do it in the middle of class. Geometry, for example. Kids, don’t try this at school. Unless you’re really, really good at Mathematics. I failed Geom on one quarter in junior year.

4. My favorite author is Mitch Albom.

And one of the things I’d like crossed out of my bucket list is to meet him in person and give him a copy of my book, Paper Planes Back Home, because in some way or other, he inspired me to write and finish it.

5. DBSK/Cassiopeia will always be my fandom.

Got hooked on them in 2006, three years after their KPop debut. Wrote fanfiction (they call it real-person fiction now, I found out) and about them. Collected their albums, posters, magazines, etc. Broke my heart when they disbanded, lost some friends over it too. Which side did I take? Yunho and Changmin’s. They’re my top 1 and 2.

And I will refuse to get into any more discussions about how they disbanded and why I stuck with the leader and the magnae because I don’t think I’ll ever be over it.

Personal, Writing

My Paper Planes are touring!

September 11, 2015 No Comments

One year ago, I never would have though blog tours were a thing, but now I’m having my very own blog tour! How cool is that?

The Bookish Diaries is hosting a blog tour for my debut novel Paper Planes Back Home, and it is happening on October 24-30, 2015! Sign-ups are now open, and I’d like to humbly invite you to come join the tour by clicking THIS LINK. I am still putting together something wonderful and worthwhile as giveaways to lucky participants and bloggers who will be joining in, so maybe we can announce something because the actual tour commences.

Hope you can give this ride a try, and thank you very much in advance! <3

Paper Planes Back Home is a new adult urban fantasy with a dash of contemporary romance set in New York City. It tells the story of two coma patients who find themselves in some sort of limbo where paper planes are currency for how much you are loved and remembered by people “back home.”

Available on Amazon, Smashwords, and Buqo.

Personal, Writing

A #SparkNA Update: We’re on Wattpad!

September 8, 2015 No Comments

So . . . remember that online writing workshop I took from April to June of this year? Yep, the one for which I wrote a (gasp!) novel about a KPop band and their road manager? Nope, no publishing deals have been handed out yet, but we’re given bite-sized #SparkNA treats–AKA short, kilig, snippets from everyone else’s works–on Wattpad!

There are currently eight different scenes from eight different stories (mine included) up right now, each of them promising, with varying degrees of kilig . . . because hey, when you’re writing romance, that’s what we’re looking for, right? The compilation is updated every few days so you won’t have to tear your hair out waiting for the next one. Simply click on the cover to your right and read to your heart’s content.

My #SparkNA novel is entitled Scandalized, and if you ever find yourself interested in taking a sneak peek at it, I have the first four chapters up on my Wattpad account too.

And now, a quick (and shameless) intro before we segue to a Read More link.

Scandalized
Tara Frejas

Somewhere in Apgujeong, Fi Legaspi’s heart is racing wildly.

No, not because the universe has compelled bright-eyed East Genesis Project band leader Jo Yihwan—the personification of her silent heartbreak—to see her as more than just their group’s reliable Girl Friday. It’s because one good deed unexpectedly backfired overnight, and now she is in the middle of a hostile fangirl witch hunt, one she elects to ignore in favor of professionalism.

But even as PR representative Gabriel Park holds her hand while taking careful steps away from the glaring limelight, the bullying continues to worsen, affecting Fi and the band members as well. When Amethyst Entertainment decides it is not willing to sacrifice EG Project’s marketability for a mere roadie, Fi is clueless on how to proceed. Does she fight for the job (and the people) she has come to love, or concede to a force more powerful than the dictates of her own heart? [ Click here to read Scandalized ]

Of course you are more than welcome to leave me comments on Wattpad, or here. Whatever floats your boat. ^_^

And thank you in advance! <3

Personal, Writing

The #StrangeLit Struggle, Conquered

September 6, 2015 7 Comments

Yep, you read that right, folks. All the sleepless nights have paid off because as of 4-ish in the morning today, I have officially turned in my #StrangeLit manuscript! *insert canned applause here*

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Now to be completely honest, I didn’t think it would happen. Somewhere along the way, I’d already thought of throwing in the towel and cheering everyone else on Twitter, but I’m really glad I decided to soldier on and put in several hundred words per day until my story’s roadblocks were cleared by a goddamn motorcycle. I’ll probably elaborate on that someday, maybe when the book bundles have come out and are accessible to readers–that’s going to happen really soon, and I’m really excited!–but for now let me save that story for another day and tell you all about what I learned in this class.

Personal, Theatre

Finding my way back home

August 6, 2015 No Comments

I think I was in pre-school when I first fell in love with the performing arts. My mother was a Whitney Houston fan who would always play her cassette tapes at home, and I learned to sing most of her songs by listening to them over and over. I was in kindergarten when I joined my first singing contest–The Greatest Love of All, anyone?–and since then I’ve kind of found my way back on stage every so often, even when I’d transferred schools at thirteen. There were stage plays, dance competitions, instrumental performances, and everything else in between that made it so natural for me to be affiliated with anything connected to performing arts.

Being able to stand in front of an appreciative audience is, in itself, its own high. I remember being up there dancing, representing my school as a member of the St. Scholastica’s College High School Dance Club and feeling so inexplicably happy hearing people cheer wholeheartedly. It’s kind of addictive, actually, in that I recall feeling sad whenever I don’t get picked to perform for certain events because my skills weren’t at par with the others that were chosen. But after a while, I realized that working behind the scenes also had its perks and one need not be in the limelight all the time to feel fulfilled.