1st Blog Here & on Reading...

It's a Friday and I figured that I would start another set of blogs here apart from other sites where I would occasionally write and post on.

I was thinking yesterday what would perhaps be the effect on me on having to share my thoughts here?

Sure I post em, people get to read em and I take comfort in that. But is comfort all that I get from it? Or is there something at work that I am just unaware of on a conscious level?

As a writer who dreams of being published one day, I'm currently working on a new story; having put my TOLKIEN-esque epic on hold for a more young adult themed book. I guess I'm letting myself being swept up by the trend and seeing the positive effect on readership the young adult market has had in the recent years.

Harry Potter. Twilight. Percy Jackson. Lemony Snickett. Vampire Diaries. Vampire Academy. Doomspell. Silver City Sequcnce. City of Ember. Chronicles of Narnia. Lord of the Rings.

These and other titles have been responsible for an increase in readership among young adults, and some adults as well. And this is good. In a country where reading is not that encouraged, I find it heartening to see "kids" holding on to their books and actually reading in public.

Ironically, I myself have not been a reader when I was growing up and probably would have been better if I had that much of a head start. But at the moment I'm making it up by paying it forward in different ways.

One thing, I have my own reader's group, ANNE RICE PHILIPPINES, where we meet and discuss her books and how that has influenced and prodded us on to grow and influence people, not to mention, share the love and benefits of reading. Along with that, I also give away a free book every end of the month on the DWIZ- 882 AM talk show, ECHOES OF THE HEART, that I co-host with our Ms World, Evangeline Pascual. In selecting and in giving the books that I have given, I hope to re-awaken the love for reading in the youth and perhaps even in parents so that they in turn may pass on and cultivate that love to their children.

Sadly, some youth in sectors of our society, feel that entertainment can only be derived in what they see and thus television and it's ever present drama serials are the only source of entertainment and pleasure; not to mention, education.

Our lives are dramatic enough. Must we go out in search for more, when there is so much more than just drama to be had and learned by picking up a book?

Most recently I discovered a Filipino author named Melissa De la Cruz who wrote the Blue Blood series. It's about teen vampires living in New York City. Currently there are 5 books to that series and she has also written other bestselling titles. It's success stories like these that warm my heart and inspire me to work on making that dream of being published come true.


Who knows?

Maybe I already am doing it just by blogging about it....