Three things tonight:

1. We just came home from a dinner with JCOB Asian Missions director and his family.

2. I`ve just started my scholarship admission statement.

3. I have a terrible allergy on my arms.

 

Can I add a number 4?

4. My Mom is telling me to go to sleep.

 

So I`m gonna go to sleep now. 

Anyway, please do drop by often `cause

I joined WordCount’s Blogathon 2011,

and I`ll be posting every single day for the rest of May. So there`d be much to read in here. I hope I won`t struggle with lack of ideas to write about. It`s actually making me a little bit nervous now.

 

On one of Bonnie`s {Faith Barista} emails, she mentioned about being a Faith Blogger, that we should write out of faith even though sometimes we feel a little unsure. I, personally, sometimes fear rejection. Don`t you find me silly sometimes?haha Sometimes, I actually imagine that people are finding me weird and funny and…silly. So I hesitate, even though it`s not the right response to my wild imagination. 

 

But with the Lord`s help, I will write with faith! And we will make it till the end of the month! So please join me guys and leave a comment whenever you are led to do so. ;) I would also love to hear from you.

 

Good night and see you in the morning!

 

PS. Please do pray for me I try to finish this week all the responsibilities I have in church so I can go ahead and prepare my school papers. It`s gonna be a busy and full month. I would really appreciate it! Love you all!

I`ve been reading much around the blogosphere since summer began. The thing is, there are so much I`ve found to inspire me. Sometimes, these “inspiring” blogs get so inspiring, I feel extremely intimidated to write. Oh, I really end up discouraged and beaten down.

 

 

If you`re a blogger and if you`re new to this thing, you`ll find all these blogging tips and blogging strategies everywhere. SEOs, monetizing, traffic tips… You find them, follow them faithfully, and still end up far from those who just excel in all these things. For a while, all these technical stuff could get you sidetracked from making good content and you might even end up forgetting why you`re blogging after all.

And I guess, that`s a bit of what happened to me the past couple of days. I was so intimidated with traffic and Page Rank and I forgot why I am blogging after all.

 

And since it`s Easter, I guess it`s time to remind myself and wake up…

 

Because the reason why I blog is because I want to share my heart. I want to share what God has done.  I want to make Jesus famous. Doesn`t matter if I`m last in the rankings. Doesn`t matter if I get few page views a day. What matters is I serve my purpose for the Kingdom. Right?

 

So forget about Page Ranks and and SEOs. I will blog everyday to give glory to my King.

 

You, why do you blog?

 

PS. And I`ll enjoy just being myself and be pressured to become like the other star bloggers. haha After all, it`s the only way I could start writing from my heart again.

 

LOVE.

{Photo via –xiantao, wtshibal

and inspires on Tumblr.}

I was on Blog The Beat last Thursday, Becca Music‘s first-ever music and events media night and I was so amazed and inspired to meet these super awesome Filipino bloggers and people from Becca Music that even now, I still have a hangover about the whole thing!

 

Becca Music gave an exclusive preview of their upcoming events,   particularly the Switchfoot concert on the 30th. Switchfoot music videos were played during the whole time. We also played Blogger Binggo, had really good food plus gourmet coffee from Folger. Perfect! How I wish Blog The Beat lasted more than a couple of hours. It was bitin! :)

 

 

I really, really feel so blessed to have been a part of this and to have met very, very nice people at Blog The Beat. Thank you so much to Becca Music for the invite! My heart found a home around the bloggers present that night.

 

I was honestly expecting that Ganns of gansdeen.com would be there ( because of a previous contest on his blog teaming up with BMI) but I was surprised when he greeted me while still at registration `cause I`m like a fan of his, seriously!  And it was actually great to find out he`s gonna be hosting the night! I know my fellow bloggers can attest to this that Blog The Beat was fun because Ganns was also an awesome host!

 

I  also met Maine from Stache Magazine who`s such a sweetie! Jay and Adz from Think Like A Beginner were so nice I felt like I`ve known them for a long time. Edan of Videoke Queen and her sister Virna…both of them were funny and so nice to talk to.

And of course, JC of J-Zone who finished  Blogger Binggo ahead of everybody! His excitement was contagious! I had to get rid of my shyness seeing him roam around. He was so active even just as he came in! I told him I think he`ll win the game and he really did!

 

LJ Salceda of 702 DZAS was also there. I shook her hand, introduced myself and found out later that she was LJ. If I knew who see was, I would`ve been too shy to introduce myself. (Blog The Beat really helped me overcome shyness that night! haha)

 

I also met Mighty from Transformational Leadership (and yes, he said his real name was Mighty), Miggy of At The Womb, Junjie and Gel of Gigs.com.ph, Justin of JustinBreathes , and Joenard and Alyssa of Truthonair, and many more!

 

Again, thank you so much to Becca Music, to Najee, and to my new friends, many of whom I only got the chance to talk to while signing each other`s Blogger Binggo cards…I`m sorry if I missed some of you. But please know I`m so blessed to know you all. I`m inspired to write more and never stop writing for the glory of the Lord. I hope to catch you guys at the concert!

 

And everybody, please don`t forget to get your tickets for Switchfoot`s Hello Hurricane Tour Live In Manila!

switchfoot

LIVE IN MANILA

April 30, 2011 (27 days left!)

Phil. Sports Arena

 

Ticket prices:
VIP                                 P3500
Courtseat                       P2500
Ringside                         P1800
Lower Box                      P1500
Ringside II                      P  800
General Admission         P  500 

 

For more details visit Becca Music`s official site or The Switchfoot Concert In Manila Facebook page.

 

See you at the concert, guys!

Do you sometimes struggle to write?

 

I bet everyone of us does.

 

I had all these thoughts in mind the past couple weeks and I really wanted to write them down and share them with you. But for an unexplainable (but familiar) reason, I cannot write them down or form them into good-sounding words. I`ve got two or three stories in mind, but I just could make them into an engaging post worth reading.

 

I guess it`s true when experts say if you yourself don`t get excited or are not enjoying what you have written down, your readers wouldn`t enjoy them either. So I guess it all starts with us, with our hearts and our perception of things.

 

I believe one reason why writers struggle to write is hesitation. The moment we begin to hesitate, that`s when things start to really go wrong. It`s like believing in failure before you`ve even started anything. It like inviting doom when it`s not even asking to come in.

{Did I use an exagerated word for doom? haha}

 

It`s really a tragedy to start thinking we`ll fail even before we started anything.

 

When I was leading the Multimedia Ministry in our previous church, the team and I did a balloon-blowing game for team building. I asked the them to blow an average sized balloon without air-pumping equipment. Some struggled while a few filled it up with air really quick.

 

I didn`t tell them that the balloon game was supposed to measure confidence. Those who had confidence enough to blow the balloons finished really quick, while others had to pushed a little bit to believe they can blow the balloons themselves.

 

I guess it`s also the same with writing—or any other craft. When we start with confidence, believe in ourselves because we are God`s creation and trust Him because He never leaves us and we are not alone, we will not be afraid of doing great things. When we believe that the intelligent Lord who fashioned all of these majestic creation is with us in everything we do, how can we not become people of excellence? When we place our confidence on the Lord who loves us and who gives us strength and wisdom, how can we not do any good thing?

 

"For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,
my confidence since my youth."
Psalms 71:5 (NIV)

 

Anyway, I found a cute poster with these “oh so true” writing rules! Enjoy!

 

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.* Phil. 4:13

I`m currently writing a movie script. Last night, I was on the part where the female protagonist writes a goodbye letter to the guy she loves. I was multi-tasking at that time, writing and speaking with Mama (which was really hard to do, cause I was writing a tearful letter and Mama was telling amusing stories). And yeah, I must say that a writer`s job is not an easy task, although I sometimes don`t notice the hard part `cause I really enjoy what I`m doing.

Many times, writers have to be alone. It`s true that writing is a solitary act  because it requires a writer to know himself deeply for him to be able to write with heart. Writers are very reflective and meditative. And you must believe me when I tell you that writers can also be good actors, esp. those who write for novels and film scripts because they often have to act out the lines of the characters  in their own solitary moment. I know because I always do that. haha

And that`s the reason why I had a challenging and funny time while multi-tasking last night. Mama looked at me and asked “Bakit ka gumaganyan? Anung nangyayari sa`yo?” She was referring to my eyes because they`re getting chinky and I was like crying and I was speaking alone…but the truth is I was writing a tearful letter and was reading the lines to myself to check if it was natural and all that. My mom must`ve thought I was  going nuts. :p

Perhaps, that`d also be another reason for a writer to be in solitude when writing—so that people won`t think you`re out of your mind when you`re reading  and acting lines aloud. ;)

If I would rewrite the quote above, it would go like this:

Writing is a solitary act. Writers` jobs are to sit in front of our computers late at night and struggle to tell a story when no one`s in there. This has to be a quiet, insular task, so people won`t think we didn`t come from this planet.

So if you`re sharing a house with a film writer, could be a friend or a sister or brother, why don`t you try to peep through their rooms late at night when they`re writing and you`ll be surprised to find there is an actor in there. ;)