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.