When I was twenty-five, I became one of the founders of The Bayanihan Blog Network, the first Filipino blog network.
Up until then, I was writing only for my own benefit. Fool for Five was actually born out a selfish need to publicize my views and interests.
But that (somewhat!) changed after I wrote my analysis of […]

When I was twenty, I came up with my first real story.
Up until then, none of the stories I wrote were “real” for me, because they didn’t make any sense. It’s probably because of my infatuation with Sci-Fi, but I tried too hard to create fantastical worlds full of mechanical miracles. And my Writing classmates […]

When I was fifteen, I wrote a highly-regarded essay.
Up until then, I wrote to please the crowd. To fit the restrictions of class, and the expectations of the teacher. As a result, my writing was very formulaic, and I actually dreaded it as an inescapable commitment. Writing to express myself was long gone. I already […]

When I was ten, I found out why writing was for me.
Up until then, I depended on drawings to plan out things. Especially for my favorite schoolyard games!
Yet when I tried sketching out a dozen teammates’ (and enemies’) moves one day, I ended up with a messy drawing. That’s when I decided to strategize exclusively […]

When I was five, I discovered what words were all about.
Up until then, I was happy just writing down the names of things. One day, I realized that words were much more than letters in the correct order.
It was amazing how “Apple” summed up the redness, sweet taste, and shiny skin. Or how “Banana” did […]