When I attended my first local creative writing workshop a few years ago, I left the venue discouraged, swearing I’d never join another workshop again. Who wouldn’t be if the panelists unanimously suggested that you toss the pieces you’d painstakingly been working on for over a month or so? But, after a distressed week, that discouragement turned into determination. I revised the ‘junk’ poems and short stories and started with new ones, using the techniques and ideas I’d learned. And a year after that, my new works provided me a ticket to join another workshop – this time, in the regional level. In the second workshop, I was no longer disgruntled by the panelists’ critique because I had preconditioned myself not to mind my works and my ego; well, the good thing was I actually received more good comments than the heart-shattering ones. So, when the Davao Writers Workshop knocked at my doorstep, I was thrilled but not as excited compared to my first because I thought I knew what it was all about and how it’s put together.
But I found out that I was wrong, dead wrong.
Continue reading Dissected, Poked, and Inspired at the Davao Writers Workshop 2011