People close to me could attest how I’m not so big on birthdays. My birthdays, at least. Rather than hold huge parties and get insanely drunk that I piss on my own vomit (eeew), I’d rather take a hike somewhere, check in a modest room fronting the beach, or eat out with my family. 

Yet every year since 2010, I mark my calendar and celebrate the date I started blogging with giveaways for readers like it’s my darn birthday.

Three template makeovers, four self-crafted blog headers, four years of blogging. I can be fickle, no?



I have friends who used to be writers. I am talking poets – brilliant ones – who I cannot even half measure up to in terms of dynamics and literary know-how. Many of them put the pen down for good to become accountants, doctors, advertising agents, and other full-time occupations that are not remotely similar to writing. 


Writing is inconvenient. No time for that, they say. Any writer would certainly understand. A writer doesn’t and mustn’t stop at decent sentences. You read. You attend workshops. You exercise those brain muscles. Daily. You ALWAYS carry a pen and a journal (or a digital memo pad). You keep knocking for opportunities in publications and elsewhere and be rewarded with rejection again and again. You rise from bed groggy at friggin’ 2 am to write when the desire strikes. 


And I tell you, that desire is a persistent bitch. When it comes, you NEED to stop whatever you’re doing for losing that train of thought is like losing your child in Walmart. The exact feeling and thought will not come at a more opportune time and replicate itself. Summon Sylvia Plath. She knows what I’m talking about.


I too, walked away from many dreams: from my parents’ dream of me becoming a doctor, from a 20-something dream of earning two million pesos yearly by servicing North American patients in a nursing home, from working in a corporate office where I can wear impressive smart casuals every day, earn pocket-bloating promotions and have more money to fund my travels and a seafront dwelling. 

I chose to write, however small the remuneration is. 


And I have never been happier. 


I do suffer splitting headaches that coincide with the days the mortgage, NAWASA, and Meralco notifications arrive, but I am happy with what I do. Not too many people are as lucky to have the freedom to take that kind of direction in life. Some become Miley Cyrus. Or The Jonas Brothers. Honestly, I cannot say which is more tragic. 

February 7 is a celebration of that one afternoon I decided to transfer all my musings from MySpace and Friendster’s generic blog pages to a custom Blogspot page (and now my own domain), which like a book, I can assign my own title to, see my byline on and share my stories in, no matter how trivial. 

But more than that, it is a celebration of the writing dream, of artistic exercise, of freedom, oflife and comfort in words. Because whatever name they call it or for whatever reason modern bloggers do it, at the end of the day, blogging is writing. No two writers are the  same, just as no two blogs are twins. It is the writer’s voice, her tales that keep a blog alive and separates her from a sea of mediocre ones. I am  fortunate to be able to continue sharing that voice, those tales of traveling, good food, mothering, and of writing itself year after year after year, here in my digital abode despite my day job and wifely and motherly duties.

To not be compelled to walk away and put the pen down for good. Blogging is an extension of that dream. It breathes life into words and keeps the writing dream afloat. 

In Uncategorized

Gretchen is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and essayist from the Philippines, where she embraces life while managing bipolar disorder and ADHD. Her confessional pieces unpack the complexities of grief, healing, motherhood, love, and intersections, garnering recognition from the Greg Grummer Poetry Contest and Navigator's Travel Writing Competition.

60 Comments

  1. congrats girl! you inspire me to keep writing too! :p just a random thought, does it help that you also earn extra from it? heheh 😛

    Reply

  2. Congratulations Ms Butchie! You are one of my inspirations in keeping my blog afloat in the cyber sea. 🙂

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  3. Aaaw…thank you, April! Means a lot to me. I'm happy (and surprised) the blog inspires fellow bloggers. Keep the fire alive!

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  4. Thank you so, so much, Marianne 🙂 I appreciate that 🙂 Keep writing!

    Haha, you know, in the four years I've been blogging, my earnings (both in cash and in kind) have not reached over P5,000. I rarely attend blogger events and don't place ads on the site. The perks do motivate some bloggers (I know for a fact a handful of bloggers who set up their blogs wholly for the perks) and it's a case-to-case basis, but definitely not in my top five motivators. Will keep writing – with or without the perks 🙂

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  8. Don't be. Like I told students during my Baguio seminar, let's not make perks and revenue our main motivation. It can frustrate you and cause a burnout kasi kapag hindi nangyari. We write and we love what we do and the money, the perks will just follow 🙂

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  9. My super favorites are Japanese cuisine because i can get unlimited Maki and miso soup! And of course the super sweet desserts! 🙂

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  26. I love all of them! it's so hard to choose but i have to, so since i love pastas i'd go for the western/european station. And the dessert station to complement 🙂

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  33. My favorite station is Japanese Foods Station and of course desserts 🙂 who can even resists the tempting sweets 🙂

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  44. Love all stations and really need to try them all to push my taste buds' full potential minus the carving station..hehehhe. But above all I love the lechon…wohoooooo!

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  53. I usually go around but my favorite of section is really the cold station… salmon, sashimi and shrimps! 🙂 #mymoneysworth

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  60. Wow this is hard. I love everything in a buffet and many stations not just one: particularly the bread and cheese, the meat –roast beef and steak (of available, the grill station, the Japanese station and international cuisines. And for dessert, cheesecake and ice cream 🙂

    Reply

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