Earlier today, I was able to watch a recording of Christopher Yuan's testimony to...I suppose we could call them Gideon followers? They're basically the ones responsible for distributing Gideon Bibles to people all over the world. His testimony struck a chord in me because - and this may sound weird - but I can really empathize with him.

Every day, I find myself torn - I have a hard time defining my identity. I feel like I'm torn between two directions: on one hand, as someone who loves God very much and on the other, someone who writes the kind of books that the church - Catholic or Protestant - may frown upon. Sometimes, I wonder - does this mean I should give up writing steamy romance - which I really enjoy doing and am extremely passionate about - and start writing Christian or inspirational romance instead?

For so long I have had no idea what the answer to this is. But listening to Christopher's testimony, reading and researching about his life - I just suddenly found the answer. Or make that I finally understood God's answer. In one of the blog posts about Christopher that I read online, it says ---

Those lines worked like an epiphany for me. I found it so liberating and enlightening that his parents didn't ask God to heal his illness or even have him not be a homosexual. Instead, all they wanted was for their son to know God and Christopher himself only wanted to know what God planned for him so that he could do God's will. 

Learning that has opened my eyes. It made me realize that through writing what write, I have the power to reach more readers and perhaps help them discover the wonderful and mysterious ways in which God works miracles in our lives. You see, readers of Christian romance are usually already blessed - I don't think I'm in the position to be of greater help to them. But for those reading mainstream romance - those who love to read the kind of books I write, I believe I have the power to remind them through my stories that God is always there for us, no matter what. And that no matter what happens, we must never blame God. Everything happens for a reason - even if we don't readily understand what those reasons are. We can only know and remember that God loves us and that He will never ever ever harm us.

Like Christopher, I am an imperfect person. I have sinned and will likely sin in the future. My writing is just as imperfect but even so, God's message is perfect and because of that, I believe that at the end of the day, His message will still be able to shine through in every story I write. 

Perhaps in time...what I write will change. But for now I realize that I am happy, content, and beyond excited with where I am right now. I believe that I'm doing is what God wants me to do. You know how with some people, you just can't force them to believe and shove your faith down their throats? The only way to reach them is to gradually expose them to God's love and I believe that's the role my books will play - are playing - in God's plans. My books can help change those people who will steer immediately clear of Christian romances just because they're what they are. 

If you've accidentally stumbled upon this post, I believe it's no accident - it was destiny, to open your eyes that maybe you've got a similar purpose in life. I also believe that this post is meant to remind us that the right path won't always feel like the right path. The right path isn't always straight and comfortable. There have been so many articles and books written about finding the right path and getting off the wrong one that we forget about how the devil can also tempt us the other way around. The devil can make us doubt ourselves, make us believe we're on the wrong path when we're actually on the right one already. 

I hope this post helps those who are as confused as I was. If you're still confused, just keep praying and God will give you the answer you seek. It may take time, but there's a reason for that, too. Just don't lose faith. God bless you all!

I initially started writing this post intending to share a snippet of the conversation I had with someone who works (somewhat) in trad pub. But then I changed my mind because...what's the point, really? We all know how such conversations end - especially if the other person doesn't know enough about self-publishing.

Also, as a self-publisher / indie publisher, we have to be ready for the fact that there will always be a lot of people who think you are not really an author or writer because you self-published. And you need to be okay with that if you want to stay long in this business. You have to learn not to seek validation from other people - actually, you need to learn how not to need validation from anyone in the first place.

If like me you started off trying to get traditionally published, eliminating the need for validation will be hard. I totally get that. Been there, done that. We wrote to please critique partners and beta readers, agents, editors, and publishers - we wrote to please so many people that sometimes, we ended up forgetting to please ourselves. It happened to me. I was so carried away by the praise I received from some Tier A agents that I deluded myself into thinking what they wanted from me was what I wanted for myself. 

But it wasn't - and self-publishing opened my eyes to that. When I started self-publishing, I found the freedom to write the kind of books I wanted to write. It was the kind that I'm sure a lot of critics would pan and find cliched and trite. I'm totally okay with that because almost every day, I receive the most amazing letters from readers, all of them taking the time to let me know how my books have made them laugh and cry and fall in love. They told me how my books entertained them so much that they forgot how bad it is, being in the hospital everyday...

If I have to seek validation, I'd be looking at the readers' direction definitely since, bottom line, it's their opinions that matter. Without readers, writers won't be able to write for a living and every writer must remember that. 

Thanks to my readers, I was able to develop self-confidence and find pride in my work. Bad reviews and other people's condescending manners don't get to me now. When I encounter such things, I just remember what super smart and super successful H.M. Ward said - bad reviews only mean your book got into the wrong hands. Is all, really, and I won't tire of repeating that because more writers have to understand that. (P.S. Just to be clear, I'm talking about reviews written by readers who dislike WHAT you wrote and not how you wrote it. Reviews that point out a book's poor editing and other technical flaws - well, that's a whole different thing.)

Since I started self-publishing last October (the books written before 10/2013 are owned by a local e-publisher), I've written over a dozen novellas. It took about half of those, however, before I realized something important. Books that are traditionally published are usually works which publishers think have the most commercial appeal, which means they enjoy the highest chances of recouping their investment in it and making bank. Because of this line of thinking, however, they end up ignoring the demands of the minorities.

As a reader, I'm one of those minorities. I like a very specific kind of romance, something that the trad pub market no longer publishes. And because I couldn't find the kind of book I like, I ended up writing them myself. Oh and yes, it took writing several books for me to realize that. :D It's also why I enjoy reading my own books and yes, I laugh and cry when reading them, too. In a way, I'm a very selfish author because I wrote my books to please myself. That there are readers exactly like me are a huge bonus. 

My point is - it's okay to write to please yourself and your readers. Thanks to self-publishing, you can more than make a living doing just that. And if that means only 1% of the world loves your books and 99% hates it? So what? That one percent really loves your books. They're your most passionate fans - don't abandon them just because you want to enjoy the mediocre level of interest of the remaining 99%. Just keep writing - if you're doing it right, you'll keep improving with each book and there's no telling when your next book can win another 1% and so on.

Next time someone tries or even succeeds in making you feel down, just remember this---
Will writing to please that person truly make you a better writer? 
Will it make you a happier writer - especially when you consider the fact that you might end up writing the kind of books you don't love? 
If your answer is NO to both questions, then why care?

When I completed my first novel, A Fling to Remember, I had no idea that I was violating so many rules with it. I was lucky enough to have queried a local editor who liked the book enough to give it a chance. But she did ask me to do a few changes, and that was my first lesson on the dos and don'ts of writing a manuscript. 

For those just getting started, here is my version of a really basic list of dos and don'ts when writing.

1. Do not use fancy formatting. Stick with Times New Roman, Size 12, Double Spaced.
2. Do use the same tense from start to finish. This is basically a toss-up between past and present. Most people write in past tense. Many romance novels these days, however, are written in present tense because it can make the reader feel like they're really part of the story.
3. Do not change POVs mid-way. You should think about what POV you're most comfortable using or the POV that your story most need before writing. I personally prefer writing in third person POV (he said, she said, they said) but there are times when my prologue is written in first person POV (I said, we said). In some cases, I write the girl's point of view in first person and the guy in third's or vice versa. As you can see, POV changes are okay - but not mid-paragraph, mid-scene, or mid-sentence.
4. Do be consistent. Sudden changes or twists and turns that really just come out of nowhere - with no reasonable explanation or no proper build-up - can be very jarring and will likely take your reader out of the story. If your H/h start off as frenemies in Chapter 1, you can't have them as BFFs in Chapter 2 without at least an explanation or a proper transition. Readers are fairly forgiving, especially when it comes to romance. Most of them - us - are willing to accept insta-love concepts, but you should at least provide a basis for two people falling in love at first sight. 

That's it for now. Like I said, these are all simple rules, something I typed off the top of my head. I hope it helps!

I've been struggling to write this particular scene for a book of mine. I know what I want to happen - I just can't seem to find the right approach to it. Whenever this happens, what I usually do is stop writing and find inspiration. But lately, what I think of doing is to just write something else. In this case, write a post that may be of help to other Filipino writers and hopefully God will see fit to inspire me after.

One of my current reads is Bo Sanchez' The Abundance Formula. I'm familiar with the concept since my dad faithfully follows it. Basically, your 100% income would be divided to 10/20/70. 10% is your tithe - something that goes directly back to God, the source of everything you have in this world, and that includes your life. 20% for investment, and 70% for your day-to-day stuff. That's the most simplified way of explaining it, by the way. 

Anyway, let's get back to the topic. In one of the chapters, Mr. S teaches his readers how to come up with a "mega catch" sort of like what the apostles received when Jesus helped them fish (John 21). Apply this to our writing careers, and I interpret it as being able to write a book that sells. 

To come up with this miraculous catch (read: bestseller or at least a book that you're proud of and at the same time earns you a stupendous amount of moolah), Mr. S outlines three core ingredients (I will not be sharing how he explained these core ingredients as I may end up giving away too much of the book. I suggest you guys buy it instead. It's a great and inspiring read. P.P.S. I am not earning anything from recommending his book.):

1. Determination
If your first book is a flop, so be it. Just keep writing. If writing is your passion, don't give up on it. Even if it means sacrificing a full-time job that already and actually pays, if you feel that you need to take a certain risk in order for your writing to work, so be it. Keep writing. 

I think it was last August or September that I quit writing articles and decided to go all-in with self-publishing. It was a terrifying decision to make, but I was thankful that I had my partner's support. He basically footed all the bills while I gave everything I got to writing and marketing a book that would eventually be a part of a multi-author boxed set that would stay at the USA Today's bestselling list for 3 weeks and the New York Times bestselling list for 2 weeks (and even one week on the combined list for print and ebooks!).

I totally had NO idea that would happen though. All I had going for me was my gut instinct that it was now or never. I prayed to God constantly for guidance. And you know what? The rewards were more than I could ever imagine.

2. Differentiation
According to this report, there had been 3,500 books pubbed EACH DAY in the US. That number does not include the thousands of titles self-pubbed as ebooks without ISBNs. So basically, each day, a reader is faced with thousands of NEW books to read. Why should and would they pick YOURS?

That's when differentiation kicks in. From an author's perspective, I define this core ingredient in two ways.

• Niche

This is very important, which is why it's probably my most favorite topic to write about when sharing tips and talking about my road to publication. I used to be confused - so, so terribly confused - about what my niche is. When a super respected literary agent told me she loved my query letter for YA horror but preferred I ditch the romantic aspect of it, I was so blown away with what she said that I decided to follow her advice to the letter. Even though writing romance is a passion of mine, I thought the agent knew better and so focused on writing just YA horror. But - here's the thing. While I do love writing horror, it's not something I can do every day. If I do it every day, I'd end up driving myself crazy with stress. It would feel like work. 
Thankfully I gradually found myself back to writing romance. The eye-opener and life-defining moment for me was when I started reading reviews and everyone kept saying that my books were a public hazard because it got them to laugh out loud. Also, when I checked the most highlighted passages in The Werewolf Prince and I, I was so stunned when they turned out to be a fairly popular local joke that I translated in English. That's when I knew I was meant to write rom-coms. Once you've found your niche, differentiating your books from other people's works won't be a chore. It will come to you naturally and it won't be something you even have to consciously think of doing. It will be a result of everything that you are as a person and a writer. 

• Strategy

Differentiation for me also means about finding the right strategy.

• I really, really wanted to write a book with Asian characters. So I wrote DRAWN, which has a Japanese-Russian hero. That spelled HOT to me. Unfortunately, it did not spell hot to most of my readers. It was one of my poorest-selling books. That was a painful setback, but I didn't let it get me down. I rewrote my other book, Park and Violet. Originally, Park (my hero) was 100% Korean. What I did was make Park look like a European hottie BUT adopted by Korean parents. I also decided not to change the setting, which was in Japan. The result: PNV shot up to Amazon's Top 500 in its first month of release. At that time, it was one of my highest-ranking books and I was really, really surprised at how well it did. The lesson: sometimes, you just need the right strategy to make things happen.
• I have NEVER written a steamy book before I started having my books out on Amazon. But my publisher requested it of me and though I felt really conscious about it, I decided to do it even though I felt like I wasn't really good at it since I'm Filipino and you know how conservative we are, etc, etc. But anyway, long story short, it ended up becoming one of the main selling points of my books. This is not to say that I write porn. =/ I hope you don't think that. I know my readers don't think that. Most of the time, my steamy scenes are also LOL moments. For me, this part of a couple's relationship is fascinating because it's when barriers are broken down and a person's real self is allowed to come out. I always see it as an act of love between couples, which is why my girls only have such experiences with the men they're meant to marry and live happily ever after. Anyway, the lesson: don't tell yourself you "can't" do something without trying. 

3. Delegation
This is also something I constantly talk about because I'm a big believer of it, and I was really happy when I read about it as being a core ingredient of success in Bo Sanchez' book. There will come a point in time when you have to delegate and not to do so will only end up preventing you from your full potential.
Delegation means two things for me, too.

• Outsource what others can do better for you. For me, this means cover design, editing and proofreading, and certain types of marketing. 
• Mr. S emphasizes the need to delegate both work and wealth. I believe in this wholeheartedly, too, which is why I pay more than fair rates for the people who help me with my work. I've also no problems referring other clients to them because I'm genuinely happy if they're able to grow in their chosen fields. Also, I get to reap the benefits every time the people around me grow. The more experience they have in their line of work, the better the results of their work would be, which is good news for me, too.

So basically that's it for now. :) Until the next time!