Plans plans and more plans

Last GA proved to be a very productive meeting with a lof the members and probees attending. Special thanks to Perpi for the house and the juice and the hospitality and to Zara for the cake. We had a lot to talk about such as the Singapore experience of Lalaine, the Children and Media workshop I will be conducting for Kuting on Feb and March, the probee requirements for manuscript workshops, contests and workshops to attend and latest gossips about the members.

Next month I will be conducting a workshop on Children and Media and will have a video showing as well as give some techiniques in mapping storylines and scripts. I have some of the videos with me and at KNN and I have some handouts to reproduce.

For February we will also have a manuscript workshop and I also volunteered so that I can revise for Canvas. I haven't received any comments yet from Augie or Heidi so I might as well give a copy to the org and get their comments. I hope I win.

There is also the Bagets and the super mega launch of the Kuting individual titles. Hopefully by March or April. UP Press is going to have theirs on Feb and we will be part of it as well. Sales are doing well and we hope that teachers will require their students to read them.

Lalaine is also requiring her students to organize a children's literature conference and we would be invited. I hope to talk or to react. The Educ people are always nice and accomodating. I had a talk with them twice last year and I had fun showing them old photographs in a powerpoint presentation. They treated me to lunch at the Old Spaghetti House. Augie and Cynthia and Heidi were also there.

We have planned out most of the year up to October. We are also planning a tie up with the Dumaguete people to have children's workshop and go to Dumaguete. That's very exciting and I wouldn't miss it for the world. I have never been to Dumaguete and I'd love to see the place and the people and eat their food. Ian is a good friend of Kuting and has always been active in supporting our goals.

So other stuff to watch out for : Teatrong Mulat and Kuting partnership, Kuting merchandising, more books by Kuting members, and the Palancas.

New award

We just got news that Lara Saguisag was cited for her poetry in a recent contest and her work will become a chapbook available soon. This is great news for us especially since Lara is in New York struggling to succeed in the competitive publishing industry. All of us wish to have a book published by Scholastic or Simon and Shuster and Penguin. This is one wonderful step for Lara and all the writers who ever wish to make it. It's an inspiration. This means it is truly possible. Now, it's time to write.

New year, new look

For the new year, I though we should tweak out look for the blog. There are so many things to celebrate this year. We have our new book, Bagets: An Anthology of Short Stories for Young Adults. We also have the individual books by our members -- Becky Bravo, Agay Llanera, and Astrid Tobias. There are also the awards we received care of our members and the contest we are going to enter and win. So much is ahead of us and I hope you will stay tune because the future is bright.

Pictures from Christmas Party 2006

This is so late. But as the saying goes, better late than never.



From L-R: Raisa, Heidi, Carla, Augie, Me, Don, Dang, Nono and Astrid. Fresh from Europe, Astrid, who sported a short haircut looked so Euro-Rock!



Mr. Congeniality, Luis "Tito Doc" Gatmaitan with KUTING newbie Don Gonzalez



Rhandee Garlitos came fashionably late. He wa sin time for the White Elephant though.



Jomike Tejido, Mr. Congeniality Runner Up, was our special guest.



With my KUTING inaanak, Don Gonzalez. He won the 2nd Romeo Forbes Prize 2006 for his story, Ang Batang Maraming Bawal.

BAGETS : An Anthology of Filipino Young Adult Fiction

KUTING's first anthology of short fiction for young adults (age 13-19). Available at the UP Press Bookstore. Edited by Carla Pacis (English) & Eugene Evasco (Filipno). Cover design by May Tobias-Papa. Php 150.00.