MY WELCOME PAGE


                 
Me @ 66
Welcome!

Hi, I am Neng Zaldivar,  Many many years ago, I worked with an insurance company based in Ayala, Makati and later, with a realty firm based in Ortigas, Pasig. 

 In 2009, we became a victim of typhoon Ondoy. I talked about this Typhoon here in my blog: 'Typhoon Ondoy' and 'After the Typhoon'. (I hold  showing 'After the Typhoon'  pending approval of submission).

 https://grandmastalking.blogspot.com/2011/03/remembering-ondoy.html

 Because of the inconvenience we experienced, my husband and I decided to leave Manila for good and go back to my birthplace: Davao City. This is where I am now and this is where my writing began.

When I was younger, reading myself to sleep is the most relaxing moment of my day. Now that I am on my "60's", I found reading in bed tiring; instead of getting a good night sleep, most often,  I would get a headache.


Because I cannot read stories in bed anymore, I turned to creating stories in my mind. I am now sharing these stories with you. Some are true, some are not; but all of these were based on what I saw and experienced on my journey called “life”.

 I also posted my thoughts on growing old, the pain and happiness of being in our world for more than 60 yrs now.



me @ 60



And ... because I wanted to preserve my writings for my grandchildren, and because I wanted to share them with you, I created a blog.  

I've learned so many lessons in my 69 yrs. in this world. I have seen so many beautiful things, I have been through sorrows and joys; I wish I could write them all ... until the curtain calls.



Younger years

Again, WELCOME! And ... thank you for giving me your time.

 Neng


BTW, I found another source of joy; that of seeing my works in print.

 Because of the constant proddings of my friends who have read my blog, I submitted three manuscripts to a national daily newspaper: one was a  love story and two were essays.  All three were accepted and published. 

 Not bad for a first-timer huh? and all because of :

 "what the heck Neng, if it is rejected, it will just be a bruised ego."
  
If you want to check out these three, you can read them in my blog or you can google; 

 Life is a Relay - 
https://grandmastalking.blogspot.com/2017/05/my-life-examined.html
BTW - if you are one like me, a wannabe writer and haven't tried submitting yet, you may want to read my ' The Courage to Submit'. It tells of my very first try.
https://grandmastalking.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-courage-to-submit.html


 YEAR 2019 - I wrote just a few this year and submitted two.

 In the early months of  2019, I submitted two fiction stories to a well-known magazine publisher in the Philippines; until now, I haven't received any notice of acceptance nor rejection from them yet. Although my hope is waning every day that past;  I am still hoping it will see print

 I have a reason not to lose hope; my first submission, a non-fiction story, took 5 months before it saw print: My 2nd, an essay, was very fast - I received word on the 3rd day and it saw print on the 5th day: My 3rd, also an essay,  took 2 months and 19 days. 

YEAR 2020 - I promise myself to submit 2 this year.

This is now June 2020, pandemic time. I have accepted the inconvenient truth. 

 Last week, I browsed the magazine's fiction department; I wanted to see the kind of stories the editor wants, I also reviewed my manuscript. When I could not find anything wrong with my story,  I googled the magazine's submission requirements; there I found what I was looking for;

                                   My font was wrong
                                  My typeface was wrong.
                                  My formatting was wrong and ...
                                  I Exceeded the required maximum word/page count

 And to cap it, I read this;  

                       " Manuscripts that exceed this length will automatically be rejected." 

 Ouch ! my manuscript was automatically rejected, in short, thrown to the trash.

 Serves me right. I was complacent; with just 3 publications, I was inwardly smug. 

 I learned my lesson - every publisher has its own publishing requirements - check before submitting your manuscript.

Google, as usual, helped. I went back to high school and re-learn grammar, spelling, formatting, and punctuations (especially for dialogues). And since I exceeded the required maximum, I was forced to delete some scenes, some dialogues, some words, in short, to be brutal with my story. 

 Lastly, two friends and a relative, voracious readers of pocketbooks, critique my story: gratis. 

 I hope that all my efforts will bear fruit... If my story will be rejected, it will be because of the story itself, perhaps of ennui, and not because of too much self-confidence.
me @ 69 

 Anyways, in a few months, I will be 70; I must be afforded some slacktitude here.
                        
Well ... well ...  well ...  que sera sera; whatever the outcome be, I will be honest to let you know. 

 Thank you.
Taken in 2019 @ The Gap 





for your comments, pls email me here;    neng_zaldivar@yahoo.com













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