The Journey of a Writing Life

By YUGEL LOSORATA 

When a book you’ve written is published, it means one thing: You’ve finished one and it’s forever out there. You can’t guarantee anything other than that, like it becoming a bestseller or making you a certified celebrity, or your crush back in high school reading it and realizing what a mistake that she took you for granted for someone else. None of that is a sure thing. And that is okay. 

You are called an author, a columnist, essayist, poet, or any adjective that banked on the act of writing because you are simply that – a writer. You’re going to finish a certain work because your soul, your mind, and your heart are taking you to the end of the line without any promise but just a creative product that you can share or read it again for yourself. 

When the lockdown caused by a pandemic hit in early 2020, I felt the gloomy scenario was telling me that I had no more excuse but to make the promise I made myself at the start of the new decade happen. That is, become a published book author. 

No more press cons to attend to, meetings to prepare for, face-to-face jammings to enjoy with bandmates, outdoor activities with family and friends, and other out-of-the-house acts that may serve as excuses not to sit down and write and write until a book idea has become an actual manifestation of several pages filled with the written word. I had to write a book as I promised, and more importantly, as a mental therapy.

I worked on a couple of book projects at the same time. One is a book of essays where I chose topics of my interest and scribbled thoughts about them. The other is a collection of flash fiction, each very short, between 500 to 1,000 words. I had to be less ambitious or else I would fall into the usual trap of having a good story line that loses momentum the longer it gets. If you’re writing your first book, make it short as possible, or long enough to make you feel not guilty of coming up with something that’s not a book length. 

My first two books were e-books published by a Manila-based publishing group recommended to me by my writing mentor Millie Vera, the same features editor who took me in as part of her staff when we were both in Manila Bulletin at the beginning of the third millennium. These books, timely called “How To Survive The New Normal: New World. Old World Legacy” and “30 Midnights Of Flash Fiction: To Beat The Blues” were to me like outputs to make some sense of my world in a seemingly senseless atmosphere that was prevailing at the time. 

Between the publication dates of these e-books that year, I lost a brother who was serving a hospital in Pampanga as a general physician. He got infected and there was still no vaccine for that virus which I don’t even want to mention. My father Eulogio’s junior died a pandemic hero. I was hurting deep inside as I finally got off the hump and had my first two e-books published. 

For context, I used writing as a therapeutic medium to free my mind while basically under “house arrest.” By the end of that dreadful year, I was writing the next books in line to also deal with grief. 

From flash fiction I set for loftier goals and pushed myself to have a collection of short stories, each of the 18 entries longer and more explorative, and collectively totaling to 60,000 words. I wrote a couple of stories that dealt with the Ozone Disco tragedy that took place in Quezon City in 1996. I was 18 at the time. Many of the victims were of my age; in fact a grade school classmate perished and a high school buddy suffered third degree burns. To me, that club house fire was kind of a Titanic-tragedy, like everything was playful youth before it, and nothing was ever the same after. My generation had to face the real world. 

I called the resulting short story collection “Rhythm & Bruise,” a play on the rhythm and blues genre and to ensure that my son’s first name Rhythm is on the cover of a book I wrote. The book was published by Ukiyoto Publishing, which releases works in both digital and print formats, and now has a base in the US, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. A blogger friend suggested that I reach out to the rising publisher and I emailed a manuscript for consideration. 

To make my short story collection extra special, I requested my good friend Boy Abunda, Philippines’ King of Talk, to write a Foreword for it. He said of it, “Find your rhythm and get bruised. Maybe you will stop for a while and begin to thrive.” I recall Tito Boy calling me while he was in New York to tell me that he was working on my book’s Foreword. Believe me, I couldn’t put into words how that meant to me. 

“Rhythm & Bruise” came out in late 2021. I wished I had pushed it to the following year, because early that same year, I came out with a novel, put out by the same publisher. 

The novel is called “The Lust Regime,” a personal work that made me realize I am truly into political thrillers and the tone of suspense/mystery is music to me. I majored in Political Science back in UST (University of Santo Tomas) and my father shared a lot of stories he read about The Holocaust and some of the despicable tyrants that shook up history. I think I have been prepared enough to write about fiction of this type. I like creating stories where someone abusing power thinks he can get away with it until he realizes too late that I’m just luring him to his shocking downfall.

With four books under my name published in 2020 and 2021, I certainly accomplished more than my goal of putting out one book per year. What did it do to me? It made me feel for real that book writing is so fulfilling, and I don’t have to be a bestselling author to keep writing. If I eventually become one, that’s a major bonus. 

A writer should write not because of prestige but because it is one’s passion. Readers today may ignore you but you’ll never know if your book is meant for future generations. Keep writing anyway. You can’t actually be called a former writer, only your affiliation with a publishing company may be a thing of the past. You are always a person who writes. Once you start writing and make the decision that you want to be a writer, you have to write until you write 30.  

So, the world started healing and by 2022 things have reverted back to how it was, arguably in an even more intense nature as revenge travel and crowd-gathering became the thing. That year I was busy serving CNN Philippines as copy editor. The world was healing as the Philippines was becoming a divided country due to partisan politics. While I was dealing with national elections brouhaha, editing scripts and articles about it, I decided to write something that’s personal – my experience as a musician and music journalist.

started recalling episodes involving my bands and encounters with celebrities being an entertainment writer focused on the music beat. I’m the guy who writes about musicians and himself a musician. 

The plot became clearer when I flew to the US. By 2023, while in California with my mother and some siblings as we navigate life without our father who died in 2021, the pages keep piling up as I reflect deeper on my journey as recording artist and music journo back in the Philippines. 

My new book is called “And For The Record: Memoir of a Filipino Writer-Musician.”  

This time around, no one suggested that I submit manuscripts to a certain publisher seeking manuscripts. I did research and found that Penguin Random House has been welcoming Southeast Asian writers telling stories from their part of the world. My subject matter I felt fits and I am of Southeast Asian origin — a Filipino, born and raised, and battered by typhoons and life in general, in the Philippines. 

In October 2023, I was given an offer by Penguin Random House SEA for the world rights to my manuscript. It’s an offer I will take any time of day knowing that it is among the “Big Five” English language publishers. 

When you read this fifth book of mine, you will see through my life as a member and bandleader of various bands, from my college band to a group formed practically to deal with midlife crisis in a rock ‘n’ roll way. The fact that I have written about some artists I met and experiences I went through should give you a bird’s eye view of the Philippine music as I saw it. It is my wish that you’ll pick some cool and cruel lessons from what I have shared, all for the purpose of becoming better as a creative person, or as a human being, if I may say so. 

“And For The Record” comes out in paperback form in Singapore and Malaysia on August 27, along with the Kindle version. Another big date is October 30, as the book becomes available in the rest of the Southeast Asia region where it will be distributed, including the Philippines. 

Also, by October 30, my music memoir gets released in the international markets like the UK, EU, and USA via Amazon.com. It will likewise be available for purchase via Amazon India and Flipkart India. 

Much later, by November 26, my book will be released in the Australia-New Zealand region. 

Thanks partly to mentors who came out with their own books, like Ms. Vera, and seasoned entertainment columnists like Nestor Cuartero and the late Ricky Lo, they served as models — that a journalist can become a book author.

Thanks also to my friends in the music scene – my co-writers and former bandmates and music collaborators. Our shared experiences led me to some sweet recollections and sweeter reflections. 

Ultimately, thanks to my younger version who dreamed of becoming a writer, who has written his way through despite the uncertainties of book writing career and the challenges of completing a book. I am where I am now because of that boy with a dream to have a byline and decided to express himself through writing.