vehemence = passion

here's what eve montlibano has to say about my earlier blog...

OK, this is for those buncha hypocrites out there who try to be oh-so-cool about what kinds of books they read. ME, i read everything. I read Tagalog komiks, Marvel comics, broadsheets, showbiz mags, recipe books, hustler, playboy, docus, autobiogs, national geog, the Bible, kamasutra, homer, shakespeare, FHM, machiavelli, marx, oh there's grisham, angelu, even deepak c. and dalton trumbo, Roth, King, oh don't forget Ms. Brown and Ms. McNaught and of course PHR (lots of it), Twin Hearts (some of it), SGE (meron din) and oh i forgot to mention Abante Tonight and Bandera. Kahit wrapper ng yosi at kendi binabasa ko. Now what's wrong with the picture?

NOTHING! 'Coz I'm not a stuck-up, ksp, pa-intellectual, super-conscious-sa-twang poseur who thinks that just because she talks in oh so pa-sosyal English, punctuated with the (say-it-one-more-time-and-imma-puke! agh!) "you know", "actually", "basically", "uhmm", "naman eh", she thinks she's cool and cannot be caught dead reading a Tagalog romance novel. Gawd, how these people make me wanna "shoot myself in the head!" Right, biatch, very apt description! Your kayabangan makes me wanna hang myself sa Luneta! Okay, I guess this is a year too late for ranting.

But I couldn't help reacting to that stupid blog.

I am a romance writer. I am serious with my craft. I put blood, sweat and sleepless nights into my job and it hurts me that some people would reduce my efforts into nothing or worse, a laughing matter.

Writing romance novels is something not all writers can do. It involves a whole range of emotions, from happiness to anger to bitterness to rage to regret and forgiveness. It's not a simple task, to be able to tap into these emotions in one simple story that would be gobbled by a reader in one seating. Well it is true that you can't please everybody, but i guess we romance writers deserve more credit that what we are getting. But then on second thought, who are we getting these nasty criticisms from anyway, eh 'yong mga wala rin naman talagang alam kundi magbasa ng Vogue (nagbabasa din ako niyan).

Here's an anecdote told by no less than Bongbong Marcos. One night, he caught his Dad, yes, the strongman himself, in his study. The study boasted all kinds of books (law, theol, geog, history, philo, politics, i bet he has sun tsu's the art of war) and Apo was bent over his desk reading a tiny book. He saw Bongbong and said: "Come here son, try reading this thing. It's really cool and funny." Apo chuckled with genuine amusement and continued reading. When Bongbong looked at the book, it was a 1980's edition of Mills & Boon.

Ok, do ya get the point? Even the most brilliant man who ever held the presidential seat of this country read romance novels! It is not a question of who are reading these books. What matters is the entertainment value that we get from reading them. Hindi ibig sabihin na porke nagbabasa ka ng Tagalog romance novels eh kulang ka sa IQ. Sheeesh. Walang IQ ang nag-iisip niyan.

This is a fact. In the US, the romance genre takes 50% of the publishing market. Yup, against the likes of Clancy and Grisham and Crichton, Ms. Brown, Ms. McNaught & Ms. Joyce are quite holding their own, thank you. That's saying a lot, isn't it? It's a billion dollar biz out there. Here in our country, the publishing biz is still very young. We have plenty of room to cover yet. We have barely begun and our potentials are great.

So to all you aspiring romance writers, don't listen to Ms. Whazzername who wants to shoot her head coz she doesn't like Lorenzo Llamas. I bet she fantasizes about Tom, Vin and Keaunu. So what's the friggin' difference? We women love to fantasize about prince charming in every way. Minsan Kano siya, minsan Italian, minsan kamukha ni Aguinaldo, minsan kamukha ni Aga at Robin. Who cares? Who friggin' cares? Miz Whazzername misses the point entirely. Romance is not about the looks or riches or credentials of the hero and heroine. They are just extra frills to make the story more exciting. Hell, the hero could be as rich as Croseus or as mouth-wateringly handsome as Marcus Schenkenberg (if you're wondering who he is, he's the only male supermodel of the world) or as sinfully tempting as my local dreamboat(Victor Neri) but never had I encountered a love story where the heroine stuck with the hero because of his money or his looks alone (though it never hurts if they come with the package haha) Parang pelikula. Kelangan may props. But more than anything else, it's really their enduring love for each other that makes any romance novel a great read.