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Blossom Among Flowers

Writing Now

Blossom Among Flowers: Cover 2.0 and Print Book!

My first book Blossom Among Flowers was plenty busy last month!

  1. It had its very first virtual blog tour thanks to the wonderful folks at Pinoy Book Tours,
  2. It received sweet, tears-in-my-eyes reviews from Anne of Will Read for Feels, Camelle of Home of a Book Lover,  and Claire of Coffeebookmom (thanks for giving my weird, manga novel a chance guys *group hug*)
  3. It had a new cover thanks to the magic of Tania Arpa. I loved the first cover, done by my awesome friend Sarah Magdasocbut I thought I’d give it a makeover and experiment with something that looks more fun 🙂

Oh, and last but not the least, Blossom Among Flowers AND my New Adult book Songs of Our Breakup are now available in print! Fill out the order form here to get your copy.

Phew. September was a good month 🙂

Blossom Among Flowers is available on Amazon, Buqo and in print.

Music Dance and Lyrics Writing Now

The Flower Boy Soundtrack

I don’t normally play music when I write. I need silence. I need a vacuum. I need my mother to stop talking to me about errands and my cat to stop purring on my lap (though that’s really very sweet of the cat. I’m sorry, I take that back).

When I get stuck though, I turn to music. And usually, the music plays in my head. Sans iTunes, YouTube or Spotify. For Blossom Among Flowers, I was writing a story set in Japan about bishounen–beautiful boys or flower boys, and the spunky, manga-addicted, high school girl caught between them. So it made sense to me that my in-head playlist was composed purely of J-pop/J-rock (albeit vintage) hits. These would be the following:

Arashi. Love So Sweet

Arashi. One Love

L’Arc~en~Ciel. Link

L’Arc~en~CielStay Away

Hikaru Utada*  Flavor of Life,

Hikaru Utada Traveling

Ai Otsuka. Peach

Photo and video credits to owners.

*Yes, I named my Hikaru Saito after this wonderful, glorious woman.

Writing Now

This Week, I Gave Birth to a Book

blossom-among-flowers-jay-e-triaReally, I did!

Well I guess technically I’ve had Blossom Among Flowers with me for almost a decade now, but this is the moment in time, the third week of July 2015 (on the 18th day according to Amazon), that my baby is finally out. She can actually mingle with the world now, you know?

I realize the child-bearing comparisons are a bit weird. But I’m just very excited.

I know there’s still a lot for me to do. You don’t know me, or my writing. Nobody’s probably reading this today. But for now, on the third week of July 2015, that’s okay. I’m still basking in the post-save&publish glow. It’s all kinds of wonderful.

Writing Now

Blossom Among Flowers, Super Final Word Count

Blossom Among Flowers at 65,002 words.

I say super final because I now refuse to touch it. Not because I don’t love this book anymore. But because I’ve had it in my computer for almost a decade now. Even longer than the longest relationship I’ve ever had (and that one was long). If that’s not love, I don’t know what is. It’s been through at least three beta-edits and two editors, and now I have finished my super last pass on my very first book, literally a piece of my heart and good chunk of years of my life (apologies for the cheese).

Editing and writing are always best done before breakfast for me. But the tricky part there is that it usually extends to way past lunch time. I’ve been surviving on cookies and tea for hours now. So now it’s time for a proper late brunch (labrunch?).

Later I will format. Then my cover designer needs to come home from Boracay. Then after eight years, I can finally hit Save and Publish <3

***

Title: Blossom Among Flowers

Genre: Young Adult

Description:

Unlike most people, 17-year old Hikaru Saito likes being invisible. Perfectly happy with her nose buried deep in her growing manga collection, she hardly notices how her “harmless hobby” is taking control of her life. But when she fails an important exam, Hikaru is forced to spend more time with her studies and her new tutor, fellow student, campus genius, and golden boy Takeshi Hinata.

Unfortunately for Hikaru, Takeshi’s popularity in school forces the spotlight on her too. His adoring fans don’t like seeing how much time they spend together and punish her for it. Luckily, Tetsuya Sakuishi, a new young and beautiful teacher, is always there to save the day for Hikaru. It doesn’t help that his smile distracts her, however.

Like her tormentors, Hikaru cannot understand why Takeshi keeps showing up in her life long after the tutoring sessions are over. As if the complications of grueling exams and university applications weren’t enough, a haughty socialite mother, an imposing business mogul father, and a princess-in-hiding all come bearing down on Hikaru. Through it all, Takeshi is there, looking at Hikaru like she’s not invisible after all.

Writing Now

What I Did When Hanazawa Rui Didn’t Get the Girl

Years before the civil war between Team Edward and Team Jacob, Makino Tsukushi had been torn between Domjouji Tsukasa and Hanazawa Rui. In a dramedy with a wild premise and many unlikely plot twists that only a Japanese dorama can pull off, Makino and Domyouji’s love prevailed, leaving Rui in the shadow as the soulmate who doesn’t get the girl.

So what is a fangirl (moi) who fell in love with the introverted millionaire bishounen to do?

I did the only logical thing. I created my own introverted millionaire bishonen. He is also a snob, and had fair hair that made his head glow. But I also made him a genius; the smartest and most popular boy in school. I gave him his quirks, his own strong, warring parents, and his personal conflicts. Thus I created Takeshi Hinata and made him my own. Takeshi became a unique and active figment of my imagination.

I gave him Hikaru Saito, a wallflower who preferred whiling her time away inside a manga store over trying to understand boys, or trying to be liked at school. She doesn’t even try hard enough to keep herself in school. So she flunks her English exam, which leads her to tyrant tutor himself, the beautiful genius Takeshi.

I created Tetsuya Sakuishi, because what is a Japanese drama if you only have one beautiful boy? He is a young teacher-in-training in Takeshi and Hikaru’s high school. Hikaru quickly notices his pretty eyes and his distracting smile. Tetsuya quickly promises to protect Hikaru and always be there for her.

Several years and many, many drafts later, Takeshi, Hikaru and Tetsuya’s story has been channeled from brain to written word. You can read about their high school romance, Blossom Among Flowers, soon.

Maybe then there will be some debate between Team Takeshi and Team Tetsuya too. That would be cool 🙂