Writing for buqo YA

Started from the bottom now we here:

Finished editing my buqo YA story at 3 AM
6,402 words, baby!

So yes, today I went to Summit Media for our "graduation" and to meet with Mina and the rest of my classmates, as well as the peeps from buqo who will distribute our stories.

Hello, I am Krissy.
PR girl, blogger, crafter, watercolor painter, book sniffer, avid movie goer, and AUTHOR.
And yes, I also had my hair cut and dyed yesterday.

We discussed what worked and what didn't during our writing process, and I'd like to share some of them with you here.

• Always keep a notebook handy. I also always have sticky notes with me, and this partly inspired my story. When I'm in transit to and from during meetings and neither are readily available, I use my phone.
• Gather supportive friends who can give you honest feedback, and motivate you when you're feeling out of it. I'm lucky because I have cheerleader friends (my friends from high school, my Breakfast Club-mates, Ed), friends who can spot grammar lapses and can give me their comments without crushing my self-confidence (Alexandra, Anne, and Alvin), and friends who stay up all night and I can chat up when I'm writing and very tempted to just go to sleep (Vlad). Thank you!
• Invest emotionally on your characters. If you don't feel a connection with them, you'll produce a halfhearted story. No one enjoys halfhearted stories. From Ethan Canin, "Don't write about a character. Become that character, and then write your story." How did I write about high school students when I am no longer a high school student myself? I just remembered what it was like for me, growing up. I've always had a flair for drama and I tend to empathize a lot so it was not *that* challenging for me.
• Listen around you. You never know when inspiration will strike! This tip was also shared by Manix Abrera during the Philippine Literary Festival.
• Don't over-think, because over-thinking leaves much room for self-doubt to creep in. As I shared, I was over-thinking and procrastinating for three weeks before I really sat down and worked on my story, but the minute I decided to start writing and put fingers to keyboard, that was when the magic happened. 

• In tenses as in plot points, consistency is key. It's true that you'll have a blind spot when it comes to your own work, and that's where your beta-readers and editors come in.
• Just write. From Neil Gaiman, "This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it's done. It's that easy, and that hard."

Mina also discussed future writing projects we can participate in. While I was working on my YA story, I came up with dialogues that would be too mature for Nate and Tanya but would be perfect for characters in a New Adult story. I drafted a WIP file and it now sits on my desktop, ready to be revisited and worked on. It's so exciting when a project gives birth to other projects!

I feel so legit.

With Mina
I'd like to thank her for being so awesome in organizing writing communities and paving the way for people like me who have always dreamed of finishing writing something and putting our work out there. Visit the Romance Class catalogue here.

With my Romance Class classmate Justine
We miss you, Bea!

With Ines, author of One Crazy Summer, What's in Your Heart, and Only a Kiss
She also contributed a story to Sola Musica: Love Notes from a Festival
Her daughter Addie is probably the first kid who ever noticed my dimples!!!
So cute ^_^

With my buqo YA classmate Six

With buqo YA classmate Ginny

I'm so excited to read what my classmates have written! I hope you guys can download the buqo app on your mobile devices and support our dreams. ♡ Thank you so much for this opportunity, buqo and Mina!

And now, we celebrate.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie a la Mode from Shakey's

Watch out for Once Upon a Sticky Note and more than 30 other stories from new authors, coming soon. ♡

GIFs were sourced from here.