On Guerrilla Writing

I’ve come across the term ‘guerrilla writing’ on the blog of Dean Alfar. He coined the term to describe the strategy he employs on writing amidst the non-stop calls of responsibilities as a father, businessman, comics artist/writer and other permutations of his person as a working man.

Later on, I encountered again the term in the Charles Tan’s blog, and obviously he adapted the term of Dean (well, bloggers in this country, especially those who write are each his own readers, so the terminologies they use becomes homogeneous.)

When I read the term, what popped up in my mind was Rage Against the Machine’s Guerrilla Radio mixed with the name and image of Che Guevarra in his green beret hat. It was as if someone hollered: “Hey, we are on a war here!”

We are, indeed.

Writers in this country have to fight their own wars to survive writing without suffering an early demise because of hunger. The shower of mortars and zipping of 50 caliber bullets relentlessly released by the enemy (practical reality) don’t give creative writers a minute of peace and rest to go on with their real work. The mortars and bullets are in the guise of jobs to earn money and put food on the dining table so the stomach can churn something other than air.

Ah, guerrilla writing. It seems it is the only viable way to sneak time to write and, for several minutes, breathe as a real human being expressing his state of soul and mock the stark countenance of practical reality.

It's inevitable. One way or another, the cudgel had to hit me straight in the face and knock me down from the pedestal which I stood on, put me where I rightfully belong, and deflate my over-inflated self-importance; the impact stirring the decade-old pretension of being a writer.

It has to happen, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, its realization had been delayed until recently when what was at stake was my financial well-being.

The issue: aptitude on my English grammar.

As a backgrounder, this problem first crept in as a serious disability on my last writing stint in a small publication house. My editors there burned me with their surreptitious gazes, loaded with enmity and loathing, as I speed-wrote every assignment they gave me, witless on the gruesome grammatical errors with which I murdered my articles. Before I finished my two-month training period, they kicked me out to their relief.

Still stubborn on claiming and acknowledging my deficiency, more than a year went with the winds and here I am again getting a crack on another writing job.

As a requirement prior to hiring, this organization is asking for a sample 250-word article. Brazen and my old self getting the better of me, I write the article as if a hyaena were chasing me. Written in haste, and even ignoring to do a proofread of the text, I send the article with blind confidence of having done a good job.

When the verdict comes, it spells a resounding and embrassing implicit question: You consider yourself a writer with this kind of article?

I am devastated. The pain of rejection spills on an argument with the writer-friend, who referred me to the company, through text.

Grammatical errors are unavoidable even to the best of writers. A couple or three errors, yes, but on the whole article near of beingpainted in red ink? I know I have mistakes, but I'm open for somebody to tell me what are those. You don't need anybody. Correct grammar is basic in every writer.... and by the way, FYI, your messages are full of grammatical errors.

The cudgel landed right on my face.

It's obvious, my responsibilities as a writer was not taken seriously, if not altogether taken for granted. I failed to do my assignments, and laziness has breed a lousy writer like me.

And now, I know where I rightly belong; my self-importance shrunk to its true size.

The Rejection Letter Finally Comes

August 18, 2005
Dear Ern,

Thank you for your submission. I'm sorry to say that I am passing on the story. While "...Mariano Torres" had much merit, it is not the type of story I'm looking for. The story could also use some polishing up for grammar and choice of words, and the latter bits could use revision.

I hope this doesn't discourage you. As writers, we all have to keep on trying and writing. I honestly think that you have great potential. I'd be doing you a terrible disservice if I told you otherwise. I look forward to reading more from your imagination in the future.

Thanks and regards,
Dean Francis Alfar
EditorPhilippine Speculative Fiction

Regarding My Short Story aka Speculative Fic Kuno

I mentioned during one of my post here, when I was starting a new story and was immersed on it, that I knew how to write the story the moment I started writing it. The intention and vision for the end product was clear as a pristine brook.

Yet, after a couple or months or so, and after attempting to beat the deadline for the anthology of speculative fictions Dean Alfar plans to publish, I am not sure anymore whether the first vision I had on the story could be seen on the last metamorphosis of its text. I even forgot altogether what the first vision was. I just hacked on the story during the last remaining days prior to the deadline; my head swirling in giddiness, with blurred vision and pumped up adrenalin.

Honestly speaking, I don't know whether I wrote the story enough for it to be merited as a well-written one. I even doubt, yet hope, that Dean Alfar would accept it in his anthology. The opening paragraph alone is below par compared with my standard, yet I could not do anything about it as I had limited prowess of putting it the right way.

Nevertheless, the story is already in the hands of Dean Alfar. He's the one who will tell me if I did a good job or not. I hope I did.