Sign up for Jessica Zafra’s writing boot camp

It’s time to stop talking about writing and just write something. What is keeping you from writing? A) You don’t have the time. B) You have nothing to write about. C) You have no talent. D) You’re afraid of criticism. E) The income is pathetic. If you picked: A) This is a lame excuse. You can carve out at least an hour a day for writing while sitting in traffic (as long as someone else is driving), waiting in line, or dining in restaurants. You can take an hour off from texting, checking Instagram, or following everyone you know on Facebook. The real question is: Do you want to write?

B) What are you, a rock? Apologies to rocks—something happens to them every century or so. Your life is all the material you need. Proust was a shut-in and he wrote the seven volumes of In Search

of Lost Time based on his memories. “I have nothing to write about” means you’re dead.

C) On one hand, that is a problem. On the other hand, how do you know you can’t write? “I have no talent” suggests that you have self-awareness, which is absolutely vital in writing.

D) So you’re sensitive. The good news is that the more you get criticized, the less you care about it. Unless you are a drama queen, in which case you live to get talked about, and then overreact. We try not to embarrass people in class, it’s counter-productive and it embarrasses us. Granted, if someone is being an asshorn and polluting the airwaves with blabber, he will be shut up.

E) No one is saying you have to write for a living. We believe in writing for our own pleasure. If we get paid for it, so much the better.

Jessica Zafra’s Writing Boot Camp is a series of workshops held every quarter at the Ayala Museum. The first workshop, “How To Write Movie Reviews,” will be held on Feb. 18 and 25 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It consists of discussions, brief screenings, and quick writing exercises. Reading assignments and the viewing assignment (one movie, a fun one) are given out upon registration. Coffee and snacks are served throughout the sessions. Writing materials are provided. There is one 750-word writing assignment, to be completed on your own time, which should take two hours or less. The fee is P5,500.