Tuesday, December 1, 2009

In Another Dress: A (Biased) Book Review, Sort of



MY MOTHER, THE AUTHOR

by Alina Kanina


I used to joke Mommy, with hurt in my voice, “why didn’t you give me your payat genes?” I was referring to her special gift of gobbling sweets and carbohydrates without gaining an inch on her waist. Whereas I, her bratty bonch, have accepted my fate of diet pills, crash diets and gym sessions just to keep insecurities away. I learned to accept eventually that I was going to be chubby all my life. Tough luck, huh?

But this doesn’t mean I didn’t inherit anything good from her. In fact, I have a lot to thank her genes for. I got her unflinching “work before play” attitude; her go-getter stamina, a zest and passion for life and...according to her, a creative flair for words.

My mom writes like she breathes and eats. She conjures words and phrases like she stirs and throws ingredients in a pot of stew.

And I’ve got to admit, growing up with a writer for a mom made my life “more interesting” in school. Hey, don’t get me wrong, she didn’t write anything for me. She wanted me to sweat it out like the rest of my classmates. That’s how great a mom she is! Well…let’s just say she edited me and edited my essays well, making masterpieces out of relatively “ho-hum” compositions.

But in college, I started attending more scriptwriting classes than creative writing ones. Perhaps, it was a conscious or subconscious effort, knowing that I could never measure up to my mom as a creative, feature and technical writer. I carved my own niche, but I realize I wouldn’t be a great TV Writer now if not for my mom’s merciless editing and bashing, her gift for finding better words and syntaxes, which still amazes me to this day.

(For the full text of this very biased blog piece, click here.)

Photo by Rachel Yapchiongco

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi ms. annamanila. where can we buy the book?

auee said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I can't wait to get a copy :-)

I only saw from Teacher Juls' that you got your book published... wow. Saludo talaga ako.

Forever59er said...

Anonymous!

The book is meanwhile available locally at UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries, UP Campus, Diliman, Quezon City *c/o Ms Ving Cinco, Tel 928-7076 to 79 or at Extempo Publishing, No. 4 A Lanuatan Street, Veterans Village, Proj. 7 QC until it gets to National Bookstores by January next year.

Thanks for your interest.

Forever59er said...

Auee!

I still can't say how the books can be sent overseas. The publisher says he will work on it and then announce how.

Personally, I will test-mail a copy as printed matter (meron pa ba nuon) to the US and see how it goes. Will let you know.

Ty heaps for wanting to get the book even though you've read many of my blog pieces.

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