“The Spectre of Writer’s Block”

• Until recently, RE de Leon was an Assistant Professor of Development Communication at the University of the Philippines Los Baños. He has since resigned to pursue new creative directions and is now a freelance writer based in Agoo, La Union. He can be reached via email at alternativity@yahoo.com

National Novel Writing Month (better known as NaNoWriMo) is a creative writing project held annually in November in which participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in one month.

Despite the event’s name, the project is now international in scope, and there are a sizeable number of participants from the Philippines.  Last time I checked, NaNoWrimo participants – “PinoyWrimos” – have collectively written more than any other country in Asia. (Check out the official PinoyWrimos website by clicking on this link.)

This is my second year doing NaNoWriMo.  I’m using it as a means of encouraging myself to force out as many words of the novel as I can.

This is RE de Leon's second year participating in NaNoWriMo.

Who knows, I might just reach my original intent of finishing the Novel this year, despite the fact that I’ve also decided to use NaNoWriMo ‘09 as a chance to start rewriting the novel from the very first word of the first chapter.

Anyway, each country participating in NaNoWriMo is assigned a coordinator to encourage participants along as they write, and to organize activities. The Philippine country coordinator  goes by the handle Tinamats, and this year, she asked me to write one of the weekly pep talks for NaNoWriMo participants.

Long story short, here’s a slightly revised copy of the Pep Talk, which came out for PinoyWrimos today.

If you’re a writer, I hope it’ll be useful for you whether or not you’re participating in NaNoWriMo.

[The article's original title was "NaNoWriMo and The Spectre of Writer's Block"]

Hello Wrimos!

When our dear [country coordinator] Tina first asked me to come up with this week’s pep talk, I had a completely different article in mind, but I was unable to write it. I’d come up against the bane of writers everywhere.  And since the best way to deal with a problem is to face it head on, I’d like to talk about it for this week’s pep talk: writer’s block.

By now, you’re a couple of days into writing your novel, and writer’s block probably feels like a cloud lingering on the horizon – if you haven’t experienced the occasional bout already.

Good news though, your NaNoWriMo experience is probably a good way of learning to get over writer’s block, either because the “thirty days of literary abandon” that is NaNoWriMo is specifically designed set your creativity free, or because the pressure to write a certain amount of words in a certain amount of time helps you develop “sustainable writing habits.”

Writer’s block may generically refer to a writer’s inability to write, but there are many causes of writer’s block, and the key to conquering it is to understand the cause behind your particular case.

Here are 5 common types of writer’s block, and the ways your NaNoWriMo 2009 experience can help you to overcome them.

Weighing in on the National Artists Controversy

• R.E. de Leon is a first time novelist and freelance writer who was once a Professor of Communication for Social Change at the University of the Philippines Los Baños.  His column for Words from The Land of Juan has been coming out on the wrong day of the week lately, but he tries his best to be able to keep up.

As promised last week, my post this week on the Land of Juan weighs in on the National Artists Controversy, of which I highlighted the details in my last piece.

At this point, of course, almost anyone who has anything to say about Philippine art has already had his or her say. So let me just get it out of the way, and state my position: I hope some way can be found to reverse the proclamation.  I suspect the vast majority of my readers feel that way as well, and I am going to write this post with that assumption in mind.

However, my position on the controversy isn’t the point of this post.  I feel that another blog adding its voice to the protest would be superfluous. Instead, I’d like to take a close look at the arguments springing from the controversy and see what insight we might find about the role of art in the life of the Filipino.

Since my last post, there have been a few updates to the situation, but only a few of them substantial.  In essence, everyone has entrenched themselves even more deeply into their respective positions.  Malacañang, the artists under protest, and their various supporters are still defending the proclamation, and the rest of us are all waiting to see if Bienvenido Lumbera and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines do indeed manage to file an injunction at the supreme court so that the formal announcement of the new National Artists can be stopped.  Protesters can also hope House Resolution 1305, proposed by Akbayan Representatives Risa Hontiveros and Walden Bello to seek an investigation into the matter, will prosper.

On top of that, I daresay some of us are eagerly waiting to see if more protests are ahead, since the previous protests have become a gathering of the who’s who Philippine art community, and a chance to gawk at folk like F.Sionil Jose, Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera, Lourd de Veyra, Jim Paredes, and the like.

It’s amazing how the controversy has brought the Philippines’ art literati together – from teenage ballerinas to virtually all the living National Artists.   We have heard from from bloggers, newspaper columnists,  and rock stars.  Why, even the relatives of the dead National Artists have spoken out — Celeste Lagaspi speaking on behalf of her father Cesar (Visual Arts) and Raul Locsin speaking on behalf of his late brother Leandro (Architecture).

Among my favorite voices in this fray is that of the rising Philippine Comic Book industry, as represented by graphic artist Gerry Alanguilan. From the very moment he heard that Malacañang had proclaimed Caparas and the others as new National Artists, Gerry came out roaring in protest on his site, Komikero Comics Journal.  And now he has put all his posts and tweets and together and come up with a time capsule of sorts for the events as they happened.  Someday historians will look at this particular moment in the history of Philippine culture, and Komikero Comics Journal will be a primary source.  The historian in Gerry will be very glad of it, I’m sure.

I hope to talk more about Gerry later, and how this controversy has suddenly given this professional architect-turned-graphic-novelist a much more prominent voice in the Philippine Art Scene.  But for now, let’s move on.

Two Core Issues
Much of the discussion regarding the controversy is muddled because there are two distinct but hopelessly intertwined issues behind it. The first is the question of how the persons ought to be elevated to the Order of National Artist; the second is the question of whether the four artists added by GMA to the 2009 lineup are qualified and/or worthy to be recognized as National Artists.

An Overview of the National Artist of the Philippines controversy

• R.E. de Leon is a first time novelist and freelance writer with a Master’s Degree in Communication for Social Change from the University of the Philippines.  His column for Words from The Land of Juan has been coming out on the wrong day of the week lately, but he tries his best to be able to keep up.

With President Aquino’s passing last Saturday,   I tried to acquiesce one of my fellow Land of Juan columnist Ilia Uy’s request to write down my thoughts on how the last five Philippine presidents have influenced the Filipino citizen’s understanding of who he is and of his place in our national narrative – how they have influenced what I refer to in my lectures as “the epic Filipino.”

Throughout the wake, however, I have been taking time to take stock of Cory’s public life, such that the article has started to evolve. While I am excited to see it in it’s final form, I think I would do a disservice if I rushed it.

In the meantime, however, I’ve had to pay attention to another matter significant to the shaping of our National consciousness – the controversy regarding four of Mrs. Arroyo’s recent appointments to the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining, with four names added to the ranks of our National Artists without having been recommended by the usual selection committee comprised of their peers.

While I do take a specific side on the matter, I feel that we can pick up a lot of insight from by paying attention to what our artists, Pambansang Alagad or otherwise, have to say about the matter.  In an effort to organize my thoughts, I came up with an article summing up the controversy and uploaded it on another site.  For what it’s worth, I’d like to share that article here.

Two caveats: First, it’s still rather rough, and I expect to tinker with it on both sites, so this is not quite final.  Second, since the article is long in itself, I will save my comments for a later piece.

But I hope that even in this form, the reader from The Land of Juan will find it useful.

- R. E. de Leon

The 2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy refers to the controversial proclamation as National Artists of the Philippines of four individuals via the Presidential prerogative of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, when the four had not been nominated by the selection committe, comprised of representatives from National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).[1][2]

The 2009 National Artist of the Philippines controversy refers to the controversial proclamation as National Artists of the Philippines of four individuals via the Presidential prerogative of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, when the four had not been nominated by the selection committe, comprised of representatives from National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)

“The title National Artist of the Philippines,” explains the relevant entry in Wikipedia, “is given to a Filipino who has been given the highest recognition for having made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts. Such Filipinos are announced, by virtue of a Presidential Proclamation, as National Artist, having been conferred membership in the Order of National Artists.”[11]  Benefits enjoyed by National Artists from that point on include a monthly pension, medical and life insurance, arrangements for a state funeral, a place of honor at national state functions, and recognition at cultural events.[2]

Controversy

President’s prerogative

The controversy began when conferred the Order of National Artists to seven individuals in July, 2009.[3] Controversy arose from the revelation that musician Ramon Santos had been dropped from the list of nominees short-listed in May that year by the selection committee, and four other individuals had been nominated to the title via “President’s prerogative” [1][2]:

• Cecilla Guidote-Alvarez (Theater),
• Magno Jose “Carlo” Caparas (Visual Arts and Film),
• Francisco Mañosa (Architecture), and
• Jose “Pitoy” Moreno (Fashion Design)

Members of the Philippine art community, including a number of living National Artists of the Philippines, protested that the proclamation politicized the title of National artist, and made it “a way for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to accommodate her allies.”[1]

Film director Eddie Romero, himself a National Artist for Film and the Broadcast Arts, explained in an interview that the rules allow the President to pick a National Artist. He noted, however, that[1]:

“It seems it’s the first time the presidential prerogative was used to declare four artists. It’s like a wholesale declaration.”

The Land of Juan honors the memory of Corazon C. Aquino (1933-2009)

Salamat, Cory. Image by Lynette Carpio.

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The authors would like to express their grief at the Nation’s loss. President Corazon C. Aquino passed away at exactly 3:18 a.m. this morning (August 1, 2009) at the Makati Medical Center.

Got inked

Ilia Uy is a Communication Arts graduate from University of the Philippines, Los Baños, and is now working in the Public Relations industry. Still currently frustrated by her present inability to write fiction. She writes for Words From the Land of Juan every week.

The first time I was ever “legitimately” published was two years ago. A fresh-out-of-the-university bum, I was vacationing in Cagayan de Oro when a former teacher texted me that one of my short stories came out. It was kind of expected — just a matter of when — because I learned that the publication wasn’t really that picky about the fiction they chose to publish. Still, being published was a mark of achievement for any writer.

If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad. - Lord Byron (Image by Ilia Uy)

When I returned to Manila, I picked up a copy at National Bookstore. Inside the car, I flipped to the page where my story was and after seeing it felt an immediate averse reaction. If I had the means, I wanted to gather all copies of that issue and burn it. I never thought that was how I would feel seeing my work in print for the first time — naked and vulnerable.

I was finally “out there” and it scared me. In my own little world, even with fellow writer friends and writing groups, the act of writing and letting people read my work felt safe. That published piece of fiction, however, put me in the danger zone. I was suddenly an open target — even though I knew nobody would really pay attention. But the fact that it was out there terrified me.