Summer Is All In Bloom

I was hoping to be able to start this blog post with a less cheesy title,but I think the summer heat has truly fried my brains because I just couldn't think of anything else. I haven't posted on here in almost three weeks and that's because I've been busy with first, the Paperweight booklaunch and then finals week and then getting sick and then revamping the MoarBooks site and all the this while recuperating from the most persistent dry cough ever. 

Also, excuses aside, I wasn't quite sure how to talk about the stuff I've been doing without feeling like the most conceited person on earth. :)) I've been really happy lately and talking about happiness always seems to be more difficult than talking about discontent or sadness. But I figure, ah what the hell. It's summer and life's rarely this good so why the hell not talk about it?

The Paperweight booklaunch was a lot of fun and surprisingly, a lot of people came. Not to be self-deprecating or anything, but before events I always get really, really, really nervous because I'm never sure if anyone is going to show up. There are ways of lessening the anxiety but the possibility of you partying all by your lonesome is always, always a possibility. 

Photos c/o Angie Pablo

Also, earlier that week I'd encountered a lot of set-backs re: the launch; there were issues with the printing (let's just say I had to staple all 50 copies by hand hours before show time) and logistical problems with the exhibit and up until people started pouring in, part of me was ready to call it quits and just take my parents to dinner. But people came! And people bought the book and had a good time!

Stranger Than Fiction

I've been offline these past few days because I've been jumping from first, printing press to printing press and then event to event, getting books printed and of course, going out there and interacting with our audience. :) For those of you who read this blog and haven't an idea yet about MoarBooks or what it is I do, I thought I'd share a tidbit from this weekend with you guys. MoarBooks is an indie publishing house/bookstore that I run with a couple of friends--we're a group of writers, cartoonists, artists, photographers and comicists (is that a word? if it isn't, I'm glad to make it up) interested in promoting quality work. I suppose what really sets us apart is that we're coming from a stand point that is more intimate and personal than big bookstores or publishing houses. It's important for us that a) the work says something (and says it well) about being alive in this day and age and that b) we get to meet and talk to the people who buy our books. So aside from posting our titles online, we also do events like bazaars and press expos. For instance, the photo below is of our booth at last week's Pride Street Bazaar 2012 in Makati last Saturday.

I won't lie--it is exhausting to get work out. Because we are both the talent and the management, we've all poured our hearts out into the publications and art that we make--and then some. I hardly got any sleep last week because as soon as the book manuscripts were done and the art files were sent, it was off to the printers to check different types of binding, paper quality and printing. (Plus, I had a chem exam.)

It doesn't help that most of these events are up north (or Makati at the nearest) and I'm from the innermost pocket of Alabang so it takes me an hour minimum to get anywhere. Travel time is the most unnoticed cause of exhaustion, if you ask me--the photo below, for example was at BLTX (a press expo) last Friday; I left the house at 4:30 in the afternoon and got to QC at 7:00 in the evening (an hour late for set up but turns out everyone was late so it wasn't too bad).

Photo by Adam David

But (cliche as this may sound) it was all worth it in the end. We were able to sell about half our stock and it was so nice to see people come together and really get into this lifestyle that promotes self-reflection and reading and appreciating art, if not making it. I had a great, great, great weekend. :D Thank you to everyone who helped us out and to everyone who bought books from us. :) I hope that all you WinaWonders readers had a great weekend as well! Here's to the week to come!

Awkward Interviews

Hallo, everyone. :) I didn't get to post much up today because I spent a lot of the day helping my brother out with pre-surgery (don't worry, it's just wisdom tooth extraction) things like buying cooling pads and pain meds/ watching Celebrity House Hunting (gosh, that stuff is addictive). But yeah. I thought I'd share this extremely awkward interview of mine at MoarBooks which I did yesterday, to introduce Paperweight and Mundane, Mundane as well as talk about fiction and a couple of things about my work. It is weird to watch yourself on camera, so fucking weird. But yeah. Thanks to MoarBooks for this. :) For those of you who go and hang out over at Trizha's bit of cyberspace, she has one on there too promoting Impulse Overdrive and Confusion volume 1. 

Hope you guys enjoy this! :) See ya'll at Komikon Indieket!

Mundane, Mundane ( aka: A Sprained Foot And Then Some)

So. Today, I spent the day over at Prodigital Image Works, Inc.--the great hands-on people behind the awesome quality of MoarBooks original titles (such as Impulse Overdrive and EM Zine). One of the things I love with working with an indie press is that you get a lot of creative freedom. I was able to pick all the touches with this slim volume that we're putting out during Komikon--the cover, the type face, the type of paper. 

Mundane, Mundane is a short story EP--a story sampler; I've included 5 short stories, both new and old. There are a couple of works from Paperweight here (Catching Up, Invented City & Cesar) but there are some stories as well that I found fun to edit because I haven't read them in years. Apartment For Rent, for example is the first story of mine that ever got published and Saturday Night Entertainment is here, too.

The downside of today was that I fell down a couple of steps and sprained and my foot. It's swollen. It hurts like a bitch. But I'll be fine. Nothing's broken at least. And we got the mock-up copy today, so it wasn't for naught. Plus, Keav came and picked me up and took care of me and brought me home--swear to god, I am immensely lucky. :) 

You guys can view more coverage from today's layout escapades over at the MoarBooks site. :D

Blood, Sweat & Books

Hey, guys! :) I'm extremely excited to announce that MoarBooks is up--this is a pretty awesome site that a bunch of people have been working extremely hard on for a million (or what feels like a million) months. MoarBooks is an online secondhand bookstore/indie press that'll be putting up quality titles for extremely affordable prices. :) I'm excited to announce that this is up for two reasons--we've decided to exclusively sell EM Zine on MoarBooks--this awesome deals includes a hooj discount. Instead of P220/copy, you can get it for P149/copy. :D 

Ya'll can head over there to check out their other titles as well; there'll be more updates in the following days. This also leads me to make another announcement re: Paperweight; copies of Paperweight will be available over at MoarBooks both for pre-order (P89) and post-launch (P149). The pre-order date is up until the end of November! :D You can also get an official looksie at Fourteen Weeks, one of the more err...fun (I suppose) works from the book!