Sunday, May 12, 2013

The Accidental Writer


I never thought that I would be a full-fledged English writer. I don't even dream of becoming one.

Like some of my fellow coursemates in Coursera's Writing II: Rhetorical Composing, writing was just an outlet and a hobby. But through the years of my struggle both in life and my career, writing became a constant companion. It's now became a big part of me. It gives me joy and comfort as well as provides me a sense of fulfillment and, yes, even money.

I remembered when I was in primary school, my favorite subjects were science and math. I already memorized the multiplication table at a tender age of nine, and had a good grasp of the periodic table of elements at the age of 10. In high school, I always had my good grades in Physics and Algebra.

No wonder, my parents were expecting me to take up medicine or engineering course in college. Out of filial piety, I would just simply nodded whenever my parents would ask me to take this course or take that course when I graduate. But the truth is, I wasn't sure where I was heading after high school. Like fellow Coursera coursemate Tukura John Daniel, the thought of becoming a soldier had became a childhood wish. Thanks partly to my favorite superheroes, Superman and Iron Man, for they somewhat instilled in me some sense of patriotism.   

But my lack of direction in life had contributed much to my dilemma. After high school graduation, I eventually ended up enrolling in a course meant for "undecided students", i.e., Bachelor of Arts. I took AB in the oldest school in Asia, the University of Santo Tomas. In this course, I was introduced a great deal in those fields that were entirely not my interest. Those subjects that, for me, were too boring, like Literature, History, Philosophy, Economics, and Theology.

Whenever I'm attending those subjects, I always felt that the "Law of Relativity" was catching up with me, i.e., an hour of lecture session seemed like a few minutes whenever I was attending my favorite advanced Algebra and Physics subjects, but an hour of lecture seemed like forever whenever I was in my boring subjects.

Hence, I couldn't help myself but to admire the sense of direction of another fellow coursemate Maewest Dias. The moment she stepped into the university, she already knew where she was heading. No wonder this lovely writer, who hails from a remote railway town of Bhuwasal in India, is now an accomplished professor of World Literature in the United States.

After a semester of whiling away my time, I discontinued studying in the AB course. I transferred to another college and shifted course from AB to BSBA, major in Computer Management. No, I've never chosen the course because I've already made up my mind. I just chose it because computer technology was the trend then way back in the 90's.

Like most trends, my interest in the course had faded fast. After barely two years, I saw myself again in the same situationtransferring to another college, this time to a business school, and shifting to another course, this time, I took up business management.

The learner-centered teaching methodology of the De La Salle University - College of Saint Benilde, a reputable business school in the Philippines, made me decide to stay in the course. I could say that the teaching methodology was so effective for it made me appreciate those "boring subjects" that I used to despise before.

Moreso, I learned to explore new fields. In this situation, I can't help myself but to relate my experience with fellow coursemate Alex Owen-Hill. In one of his course write-ups entitled "A Fresh Pair of Eyes", he confessed, "I’m addicted to the process of learning. There are only a few times in my life that I can bring to mind, when I haven’t been enthusiastically engaged in learning some new skill or other." Like Alex, I'm also addicted to learn new things. My quest for more knowledge had led me to attend a seminar-workshop on creative writing.

The Palanca Creative Writing Workshop became instrumental in discovering and shaping the writer in me. In this workshop, I produced my very first "technical" poetry. I considered it technical because it was composed with meters vis-a-vis rhymesvery much different from those monotonous rhyming poems I wrote during my elementary and secondary English classes. In fact, the said poem was published in the literary folio Shades of Gray under the title "The Old Temple".

It was quite a fulfilling experience to see your own composition on print. Nevertheless, I didn't consider myself a writer yet. I merely considered my perennial feat as an opportune accomplishment.

After college graduation, I worked for some reputable companies handling various positions of responsibility. As for writing, "it was nothing more than escapism", to quote coursemate Tukura John Daniel.

In 2000, another publication ensued. This time my sonnet "Beggars and Cars" was published by the International Library of Poetry in the coffee table book "Ballads of Our Lives". 
  
Writing, indeed, became my outlet to express my emotions. I used to keep a Moleskine a la Ernest Hemingway to record my spur-of-the-moment ideas, positive reflections, personal notes, business agenda, doodles and sketches, among others. Like Tukura, "writing was something I did either for fun or to lighten up my heart when burdened. The notion of becoming a writer at that stage of my life appeared far fetched and bluntly impossible."

I'm thankful, however, that my talent in writing is giving me an edge in my management career. I was able to make my business proposals more enticing, and my internal correspondences more compelling.

In spite of my stable career, there seems to be a missing factor. It feels like my life would not be complete without thisand this is the joy of writing. My feeling toward writing is best described by coursemate Alex Owen-Hill: "Writing has been a continuous force throughout. It has provided me an outlet, both to organize my disparate daily thoughts and to create brand new connections between whichever area of knowledge I’m currently interested in and those which have come before."

Again like Alex, "I can’t remember specifically how my writing started, it’s been a sort of continuously layered process for as long as I can remember."

Due to my ability to write vis-a-vis my eclectic knowledge in various industries, I was able to penetrate the advertising world by sheer conviction. I was in a real estate conference when I met this advertiser, who happened to read my industry write-ups. He asked me if I could write a copy for his firm. Without hesitation, I said "yes" eventhough deep inside I was taken aback for my swift response.

But risk-taking is sometimes needed to level up in one's career. This copywriting engagement had opened the door for me to work on several more projects until I bagged the editorial position in Archikonst—the Philippines' longest-running architecture and construction magazine. 

Until today, I'm still enjoying my post as the chief editor of the said magazine, yet my quest for knowledge never stops there because I know, in the words of fellow coursemate Maewest Dias, "something bigger still awaits me." 

Coursera - Writing II: Rhetorical Composing
The Ohio State University
Assignment 1: Getting to Know One Another

By Ludwig Ritchel A. Kalambacal
12 May 2013

Follow this link to read the draft and original manuscript: http://padlet.com/wall/wexmooc_levelup

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