Book Crazy

Now with more time in my hands because of a hiatus from teaching, I've decided to muster all I've got to put together my third book and bone up on my writing skills before I get busy again in the next school term.

Am still at a loss though on that book project. My heart and mind went rah! rah! when the concept ignited, all possible chapters listed, and the intro drafted; with my publisher giving her thumbs up. But everything seemed to have been reduced to a whimper lately. That's funny because my proposed topic was precisely meant to encourage women my age to get a life after retirement.

So I turned to my second objective---be a more savvy writer. Writing a novel had always been percolating in my mind. Should I take the plunge? In a seminar for women writers sponsored by OMF LIterature Inc. (Thanks Yna Reyes!), renowned Christian author and mentor of writers Miriam Adeney challenged us to rise above the clutter to fill the void for "readable" Christian literature. That novel-kneivel desire creeped up again!

So could I really do it? I don't know. Only God knows, and I need to pray about it some more. He promised to open the door if I would just knock and continue to believe His promise: "Turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you look for it as silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding" (Prov.2:2-6). This I know: I need to start writing that third book. Up your butt, Lola!

But a dam had been burst. Craving for the classics, I went to Powerbooks and blew my tightly-guarded allowance on some Hawthorne and Dickens books. How could I refuse when they came as hard-bound, gold-rimmed and expensive-looking, and on sale at just P63 and P198!

Many days and nights, I found myself lingering in the world of CS Lewis, wishing the breathtaking episodes in the Chronicles of Narnia would stretch forever---and be real! Adding fuel to the cause was OMF's Lindy Hope, who gladly lent me a Jane Austen book from her immense collection. Current day writings pleaded stronger, so I went back to William Young's The Shack, and fell in love with Bodie and Brock Thoene's Vienna Prelude, bought for a mere P25. OMF had it on sale!

This crazy book episode my have been ignited by my grandchildren's love for books. Visiting my daughter's family recently in Australia, I often substituted to put her kids to sleep. Joaqui, six years old, just could not go to bed without a read. My convenient pasalubong for him from the Philippines were Grace Chong's books (mostly of the "O Mateo" series) which we read and re-read many times over. So I inquired, "Do you like Tita Grace's books?" "No. I don't like them," he replied ho-hum style. Then crescendoing, he gushed, "I love them. I super-duper love them!"

I used books to lure two and a half year old Charlize to more quiet playtimes---kinder to her sedentary Lola. But here's the rub: Hardly had a page been turned, she'd say, "Wead mo book, Wowa!" forcing the book from my hand and thrusting another.

I'm happiest knowing that my apos are growing up loving books. (Lucci makes it a point to regularly borrow books from the public library, guaranteeing a fresh supply always, at no cost.) Even if my dream of becoming a novelist fizzles, Joaqui just might. Well, only the good Lord knows.