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Jay E. Tria

Writing Now

#FeelsRushIn recap: Things You Missed If You Weren’t There

Posted on July 25, 2016

I felt like captioning and posting pictures of #FeelsRushIn on Instagram this way, in list form as a way of organizing my feelings. I do not know if I was able to accomplish that feat; to do any sort of rationalization of emotions (huh is this even possible?). But in any case, the list is here.

If you weren’t there, beware. You missed the following:

#romanceclass books. A lot of the #romanceclass titles are indie, which is only a cool way of saying that these are rare Pokemon that you won’t find in your neighborhood bookstores. These are available as ebooks though and in print direct from the author (see full list in romanceclassbooks.com here). But last Saturday these books were there, spread out in one table. All our feelings side by side, waiting and raring for you to grab them and take them home. Additional perk: most of the authors were there too, so you could have met them and grilled them a bit about their books (this doesn’t happen to just me, right? 😀 ).

 

Shirts, totes, stickers and magnets. Our feelings come in other forms too, such as t-shirts and tote bags created by WearDPT, stickers and tumblers care of Vinyliism, and magnets, thanks to Quote Hanger. Last Saturday, the awesome humans behind these merch spread out the goods and took some orders too.

 

Free #romanceclass ebook for every donation to Ayala Malls Little Free Library. The Little Free Library is a recent Ayala Malls project. Basically they install reading corners in select malls, i.e. Trinoma, Glorietta, UP Town Center, with the goal of encouraging mall goers to borrow and read books. To help these cute libraries load up their shelves, we invited people to donate books in exchange for a #romanceclass ebook of their choice. A read for a read.

 

Live readings. It’s not a #romanceclass Feels Day without the live readings, a.k.a. the culmination of all the feelings. We had Herv Alvarez and Salve Villarosa back. You would remember them from their YA reads last #AprilFeelsDay. This time they were joined by Migs Almendras (also known as book cover Dante, exhibit A below).

 

They read excerpts from When Cocoy Became Kikay by CP Santi, Only a Kiss by Ines Bautista-Yao, What About Today by Dawn Lanuza, The Bye Bye Bouquet by Chi Yu Rodriguez, and No Strings Attached by Mina V. Esguerra.

 

Sounds like a lot of fun things happened, yes? Check out the video recap below done by author Chi Yu Rodriguez, if you need more proof.

If you were there, you know all of this. You felt them all. Thank you, thank you so much for being there and feeling with us. If you weren’t, again I ask, why weren’t you? And I ask that in the sweetest way possible, because we’d really love to see you there next time. So please calendar October 22, okay? We’re doing this again. See you then? Awesome.

 

Special thanks to Ayala Malls Trinoma and Filipino Readercon 🙂

Writing Now

Freebie Alert! Blossom Among Flowers Turns One

Posted on July 18, 2016

It is exactly one year to the day since I released my first ever book baby into the wild. ONE YEAR! I can’t believe it’s been that long since this series of rambling posts (1 2 3 4). Heh. I can’t help feeling sentimental and nostalgic.

I was very afraid to even think of self-publishing then. A few years earlier I’d tried the traditional route (at the time, the only route I knew) of sending query letters to international agents. I received polite rejection emails if I was lucky, but for the most part I was ignored. Can’t say I didn’t expect that. I was peddling a 180k-word YA manga-Jdorama novel thing that I didn’t even know how to explain.

So I shared the book with the one person who knew I had written it, and asked if she would like to read it. You know, exclusively for feels. She knew why I’d written it in the first place. We shipped the same sunk ship, so she was super sweet and supportive. She got back to me with the book printed in short bond paper and ring-bound (maybe done in UP SC?) in two copies–one for her to keep, and one for me with little sticky notes of her thoughts and feelings.

 

We laughed, we giggled, we bonded over it, then the untitled book slept in my hard drive. (Aside: before the first draft was completed I lost my first hard drive and all the words so I had to write the whole thing over! But that’s a story for another time)

I kept coming back to it every once in a while. But I was already working on what would become Songs of Our Breakup then, and another thing based on another ship/crush. I started reading about self-publishing, and found Mina V. Esguerra and Marian Tee‘s blogs. I even sucked up the courage to email Mina and message Marian. Both were very sweet people (ILY guys). But it took me Easter 2015 before I got the just-do-it epiphany. Mostly because other people were doing it already, and were succeeding at it, and also because I was turning 30 then and I was terrified (I eventually got over this).

So I got to work. I pared down that monster of a manuscript to 65k from 180k (what was I thinking? I wasn’t writing a Westerosi epic!). I found people willing to help, cold-called some people (Mina, hello haha), and eventually, on a random day in July, hit publish. I made a lot of mistakes, but I was honestly happy to make them. Because the mistakes meant I’ve done it. I’ve written and I’ve published, and I can learn from these mistakes and be better. I also met lovely readers (they exist! Hurray!) and of course the wonderful #romanceclass people who make this writing thing all the more fun and crazy. ThankyouthankyouthankYOU everyone <3

Anyway. I said I wouldn’t ramble. Told you I’m feeling sentimental. The point of all this, really, is that I’m stoked and I thought to share my gratitude and happiness with a giveaway, YAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Join to win a paperback copy of Blossom Among Flowers or a WearDPT shirt or any #romanceclass eBook.

Otanjoubi omedetou Takeshi and Hikaru! お誕生日おめでとうございます。<3

Tourism

Things to Do on a Spring Trip to Tokyo: Harajuku, Shibuya, Sumida River, Sensoji

Posted on July 10, 2016

Day 2 of my first ever spring in Tokyo had us running around Harujuku and Shibuya in search for sneakers, because the day before’s rainy trek destroyed my friend’s old pair. We found the Onitsuka Tiger flagship store and the Nike flagship store, both in Harajuku near Takeshita-dori. Then we got on the train to Shibuya and found Hachiko. He was corded off–I think there was an event–so I only got to wave at him.

We participated in the Shibuya crossing, and spent the afternoon going up and down the streets, whiling hours away inside Muji, Tokyu Hands and Tower Records. Tower Records was something I really had to see. It’s been so long since I saw so many CDs in the Philippines. And even then, record stores didn’t go as high as 6-7 floors. Japanese CDs are expensive though. I bought the Arctic Monkeys AM album and tried to check for gold slivers inside. I found none. But it’s okay, because Alex Turner <3

Said hi to Tower Records Hachiko instead. Shibuya, Japan.

Said hi to Tower Records Hachiko instead, because the original one at the Shibuya Station was corded off. Shibuya, Japan.

It's hard to explain why the sight of so many CDs excited me. But if you're a music lover from the Philippines too, you'll know what I mean. Tower Records, Shibuya, Japan.

It’s hard to explain why the sight of so many CDs excited me. But if you’re a music lover from the Philippines too, you’ll know what I mean. Tower Records, Shibuya, Japan.

"No indie, no life?" "Yuhuh." Tower Records, Shibuya.

“No indie, no life?”
“Yuhuh.” Tower Records, Shibuya.

The Arashi wall. It wasn't very hard to find. Hehe. Tower Records, Shibuya.

The Arashi wall. It wasn’t very hard to find. Hehe. Tower Records, Shibuya.

 

Before the sun set, we headed back to the hotel for some rest for our tita bones. Then we walked a good 20 minutes to the nearest hanami venue, Sumida Park. On the way, we passed Sensoji Temple, lured towards it by the bright red lights. It was deserted, as was Nakamise Street, so it was a good time to go around and take pictures of the shrine, the temple, and the famed bells of the Kaminari Gate.

Noodle vendo machine. You choose your meal, slip in your yen note, press a button and voila! Food comes out! Kidding, hehe. An order slip comes out then you go in and wait to be called. Asakusa, Japan.

Noodle vendo machine. You choose your meal, slip in your yen note, press a button and voila! Food comes out! Kidding, hehe. An order slip comes out then you go in and wait to be called. Asakusa, Japan.

My vendo meal. Noodles with a hot, spicy dipping sauce. Perfect for the cold. We asked for house tea but the kind shop man told us it's better to slurp the sauce and drink water instead. Asakusa, Tokyo.

My vendo meal. Noodles with a hot, spicy dipping sauce. Perfect for the cold. We asked for house tea but the kind shop man told us it’s better to slurp the sauce and drink water instead. Asakusa, Tokyo.

Sakura on the Sumida Bridge. Crossing it to get to Sumida Park. Asakusa, Tokyo.

Sakura on the Sumida Bridge. Crossing it to get to Sumida Park. Asakusa, Tokyo.

"Try to get a shot of the entire temple." "Okay but you'll look like an ant." "Cool." Sensoji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo.

“Try to get a shot of the entire temple.”
“Okay but you’ll look like an ant.”
“Cool.” Sensoji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo.

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Sensoji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan. We were lured by its striking red color and the bright yellow lights on our way to Sumida park.

Nakamise Street, quiet and deserted for the night.

Nakamise Street, quiet and deserted for the night. Went back here in the morning of our last day and it was mad chaos.

Spring blossoms and lights at Sumida Park, lining the banks of the river. Asakusa, Tokyo.

Spring blossoms and lights at Sumida Park, lining the banks of the river. Asakusa, Tokyo.

Salarymen and women toasting the end of another work week along the Sumida River. Kanpai!

Salarymen and women toasting the end of another work week along the Sumida River. Kanpai!

When we finally reached Sumida, we found cherry blossoms lit up with garlands of fairy lights. Under the trees, in full view of the water buses floating along the river, the locals celebrated the end of the week. There were couples on dates eating from disposable wares, side by side the salarymen who were guzzling their beers with chips and yakitori. TGIF indeed. Kanpai!

All photos belong to me. 

Writing Now

Author Interview: Tara Frejas

Posted on July 3, 2016

I think this is a good time to post this interview with #romanceclass author Tara Frejas, coming off of the #NatGioWeekend high of watching Rak of Aegis that she so lovingly organized. Okay so that’s totally unrelated to the topics in this interview, since here we talked about Kpop fandom and her latest release Roadie Romance #1:  Scandalized.  But theater is one of her fandoms too, and when you read through this and get to the part where she talks about her work-in-progress, you’ll see why our theater weekend feelings made me want to share this chat with you ASAP 🙂

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Tourism

Things to Do on a Spring Trip to Tokyo: Toyoko Inn, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Ginza

Posted on June 26, 2016

It started when my old Economics professor said, “I’m taking my EcoDev class to Tokyo this spring. Do you want to tag along?” The answer to an invitation like that is always “yes.” But when the date started crawling closer, I was trying to squirm out of the trip, moved to do so by a long list of excuses. My professor was the type who marked words though, so my “yes” remained. The plane ticket was booked, hotel reservations were made, the visa was approved (barely made it!), and sooner than I could pack, it was time to meet and greet those famed cherry blossoms.

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It was raining all day, but it was a polite kind of rain. Walking on our way to Tokyo Stock Exchange.

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Second train from the airport was good as empty, maybe because we took a red eye flight.

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Bikes dot the Asakusa streets.

They say spring is the best season to travel to a place like Japan. Surely my summer trip there was hardly ideal thanks to the stifling heat and humidity. Spring weather had sunny mornings that transitioned to cold afternoons and evenings. But the day could turn frigid when it rains. I still like autumn the most, though. I like that it’s dependably cold all hours of the day. You’re sure you’ll need that heavy coat and that you’re never going to sweat under your thermals.

But spring wins with its aesthetic; there is nothing quite like it. Bright, colorful flowers, towering, green trees, and of course, the white-pink sakura blooms–all these line the streets and fill the parks. Life and nature everywhere you turn. It’s a breathtaking sight, not at all anything I could get over with.

Day 1 had our little party of four struggling to get to our hotels. It was raining, as the very accurate weather predictions have warned us. Also I’ve forgotten that when the Japanese (and Koreans too, for that matter) say that the hotel is a 12 minute-walk away, the Filipino pacing for that is actually 20 minutes minimum. After a long trudge in the rain, we finally found Toyoko Inn Asakusa Senzobu Tsukuba Express. I reserved direct from their website and paid cash upon check in. Check in was late (4 pm!) but it’s an affordable chain inn and it’s easily my most favorite one of all. Super clean, and though small it’s a manageable space, specially since I booked a single room. Also they serve free breakfast (Onigiri! Soup, natto, coffee and bread!) and they lend you free jammies (!!!). Once we’ve deposited our luggage, it was time for our Tokyo Stock Exchange field trip, then after a couple of hours of legitimate learning, it was off to Ginza to reunite with all the pretty cafes and shops (hello again 12 floors of Uniqlo).

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With our guide, explaining the history of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

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First meal, at a Lotteria just outside of Ueno Station. Steaming soup and piping hot coffee were perfect on a cold rainy spring day.

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Pandas and lions and turtles at Lotteria, Ueno Station. Too cute to eat.

All photos belong to me. 

Writing Now

Author Interview: Miren B. Flores

Posted on June 19, 2016

Miren B. Flores’ debut work Loveless. Childless. Clueless. broke my heart and mended it a thousand times over, all in a span of a hundred-plus pages. I read the book in only a few hours, drowning in feelings as I did so. When I came up for air at the end of it, my heart and my brain were both demanding a discussion with the author about that ending! GAH. Then I composed myself and asked her the following questions instead. Hehe.

Thanks Miren for indulging me! We talked about firstborn books, writing that ending, and choices (Krav Maga hottie or old flame??). She also shared a Joni Mitchell performance that got me bleeding on the floor. Miren is mean.  Continue Reading