Personal, The Writing Community, Writing

Five years in the making…

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Five years ago, I tweeted this:

I don’t remember anymore how exactly I came up with the plunny, although it’s possible that it’s mostly because I had Daniel Henney in mind as the love interest. He loves dogs, and so do I…and I’d never really written a story yet where the characters had pets, so I wanted to give it a try.

I’ve kept the idea for the story in my growing list of plunnies to explore, but only got around to writing it until sometime in late 2021, when I decided to put together an anthology of short stories that eventually became What If We Fall In Love? I shelved this story and instead included my NomCom submission, Your Heart, To Go, to complete the lineup. I thought it would take a while before I got to revisit the manuscript, but an opportunity to finish it came when submissions for Pawfect For You (then simply called Tropetastic 3) came along.

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Cover Reveal, The Writing Community, Writing

New anthology alert: Pawfect For You!

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Friends and lovers, listen up! #RomanceClass is back with another charity anthology, and this year, we are helping cats and dogs in need!

On National Pet Day (April 11), we did a cover reveal+ pre-order link drop for Pawfect For You: Tropetastic Kindness Bundle 3. It’s a collection of six all-new nakakakilig stories where the main characters are pet owners/pet lovers falling in love. Check out the wonderful cover below, illustrated by Liza S. dela Cruz.

We met Liza last year when she worked with #romanceclass authors Carla de Guzman and Celestine Trinidad for their KILIG anthology entries, and it was so lovely getting to work with her for this cover. Don’t you think it’s pretty? ^_^

Included in the anthology are stories by Danice Mae P. Sison, Ines Bautista-Yao, Tara Frejas (that’s me!), Celestine Trinidad, Angel C. Aquino, and Jay E. Tria. You may pre-order a copy of the book at US$7 (or the price you want) at kilig.pub/pawfect4u. Just like our previous charity anthologies, Pawfect For You is available for a limited time only (until June 29, 2023), so please make sure you grab this opportunity to get the book while it lasts.

Pawfect For You will be released on April 29, 2023. ALL PROCEEDS will go to Pawssion Project, a non-government organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of cats and dogs in distress.

Yes, please I’d like my own copy of Pawfect For You!
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Book Launch, The Writing Community

Tres Launches Book Launch with Angel, Ines, and Mina this Saturday!

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So excited to be hosting this book launch on Saturday! We will be having Angel C. Aquino, Ines Bautista-Yao, and Mina V. Esguerra talk about their books that were released (or, re-released) this year, namely:

You can watch the stream below—stream starts on Saturday, October 8 at 5:00 pm PHT. Or you can subscribe to the #romanceclass YouTube channel to be notified of our streams!

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Projects, The Writing Community

#romanceclass X #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy Virtual Panels

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Buwan Ng Mga Akdang Pinoy Virtual Panels by #romanceclass

Part of #romanceclass’ month-long celebration of Buwan ng mga Akdang Pinoy is a weekly virtual panel that discusses the various work the community has done so far. It happens every weekend of August (Friday-Sunday) starting Friday, August 9.

Check out the week’s schedule below (subject to change without prior notice):

August 16, Friday

7:00 PM — Author AMA with Angeli Dumatol

Angeli E. Dumatol is a physician by profession and when she’s not in the clinics, she can be found writing stories, reading books, or getting lost in a daydream. Her first #romanceclass novel is Heartstruck, which is also the first book in the #romanceclassFlicker collection.

Send in your questions for Angeli here.

9:00 PM — Author AMA with Dawn Lanuza

Dawn Lanuza writes contemporary romance, young adult fiction and prose poetry. She has two first loves – music and writing – and is lucky enough to surround herself with them. She is the author behind The Boyfriend Backtrack, The Hometown Hazard, What About Today, and the poetry collection, The Last Time I’ll Write About You. Her most recent releases are You Are Here (poetry), and Stay a Little Longer (romance novel), both published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Send in your questions for Dawn here.

August 17, Saturday

5:00 PM — Serving Face, or Why We Like Visual Pegs So Much

Why, indeed, do we love assigning faces to our characters? Why do we have 762743 photos of (insert actor/actress’ name here) saved in our phones/computers? And how does that help our writing process? This and more — send in your questions — on this panel.

Panelists: Ana Tejano, Bianca Mori, and Tara Frejas

Send in your questions for this panel here.

7:00 PM — So You Think You Can Vlog/Podcast?

Are you an aspiring book vlogger/podcaster? Get insights on how you can start and maintain your own book vlog or podcast in this panel!

Panelists: Ansela Corsino (Adulting for Authors), Kat Mayo (BookThingo)
Host: Carla de Guzman

Send in your questions for this panel here.

August 18, Sunday

5:00 PM — #RomanceClass Covers

#RomanceClass Covers offers more cover options for Filipino/Asian authors and their stories. We’ll talk about how this endeavor started, how it has affected the way #romanceclass covers are now conceptualized/designed, and maybe (just maybe) behind-the-scenes stories from the shoots!

Panelists: Carla de Guzman, Miles Tan, Mina V. Esguerra, Tania Arpa
Host: Chi Yu Rodriguez

Send in your questions for this panel here.

7:00 PM — Author AMA with Tara Frejas

Tara Frejas works as a Virtual Assistant by day, and writes romance by night. She published her first book in 2015 after joining Mina V. Esguerra’s Author at Once Workshop and has since written seven more books and contributed to three anthologies. Her books are often reflections of the things she loves, like basketball (Settle the Score & Hustle Play), musicals (Waiting in the Wings), and KPop (Scandalized / Play It By Ear).

Send in your questions for Tara here.

We all hope you can join us on Twitter for these discussions! (There might be some giveaways per panel, so if you’re lucky, you might win some pretty, shiny prizes!) See you on Friday! <3

PREVIOUS PANELS

WEEK ONE

August 9, Friday

7:00 PM — #romanceclassFlicker: Stories behind the #romanceclass YA imprint

Panelists: Agay Llanera, Angeli Dumatol, Danice Mae P. Sison, and Catherine Dellosa
Host: Ines Bautista-Yao

Send in your questions for this panel here.

August 10, Saturday

5:00 PM — Author AMA: Chi Yu Rodriguez

Chi Yu Rodriguez is the author of The Byebye Bouquet, Love and Other Questionable Life Choices, and No Two Ways. She is also the official photographer of #romanceclasscovers (@romanceclasscovers on Instagram). Send in your questions for Chi here.

August 11, Sunday

5:00 PM — Slay that Slump: #romanceclass authors and their writing habits + how they motivate themselves to Get Shit Done

This is an open panel hosted by Tara Frejas. All #romanceclass authors are welcome to jump in and answer questions presented during the discussion.

Send in your questions for this panel here.

7:00 PM — Author AMA: Angel C. Aquino

Angel C. Aquino is a freelance writer, editor, and content creator based in Manila. Her short story, “The Bucket List” was published in the Summit Books anthology, Coming of Age. Love At First Run is her first #romanceclass novel. Send in your questions for Angel here.

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