Waiting in the Wings has a new cover! How much do you lab it?
It’s been six years since the release of Waiting in the Wings, my romance novella set in Manila’s musical theatre world, and while I didn’t have any urgent plans to change its cover, the idea had been simmering in my mind for a while. In February this year, PETA Theater opened its doors to a new Filipino musical entitled Walang Aray (an adaptation of Severino Reyes’ Walang Sugat), and it captured my heart instantly and prompted all of this madness.
I guess it was only fitting that another PETA musical became the catalyst for this “rebirth.” After all, Waiting in the Wings was born out of my extreme fondness for Rak of Aegis, AKA the musical that rak-ed its way into so many people’s hearts from its first run in 2014 until its close in 2019. The first time I saw Walang Aray‘s marketing materials, my brain immediately went “OMG how nice would it be to have all these elements on a book cover!” Seeing the actual set design and the musical just fired up things in my brain that I was declaring, in March of this year, that I wanted a photo shoot (on the stage) so I could use it for a new cover.
And I declared it again two months later:
But of course none of this would have happened if I, like my main character, Erin, didn’t take action. I sent Gio a message shortly after that and asked if his Walang Aray co-star MNor Madamesila was willing to shoot photos for a #RomanceClass book cover, and things progressed from there. We did a photo shoot on the first weekend of July, got the photos to Miles in August, received the first version of the cover in September, and finally revealed it in October! Ah, time flies.
If you’re asking me about the book—well…this re-release felt like an invitation to revisit Erin and Ramon (and Pio), and it felt really good “seeing” them again. As I move on to new stories and characters, I sometimes forget what I’ve written before, and rereading the book made me fall in love with the characters again. So much that I found myself crying again while doing some minor rewrites here and there. It was like meeting friends after six long years and reminiscing happy times with them. It’s realizing “Ah, oo nga pala…mahal ko nga pala kayo.”
So, nothing’s changed around the main arc, but you’ll maybe find a few new lines here and there. A small scene modification or two. A bonus chapter at the end that some of you may already have read. I’m basically inviting you to revisit Teatro Lakambini too, and hopefully remember the kilig you felt when you read Waiting in the Wings for the first time.
More announcements about its actual re-release and print run soon.
