seven!

Please forgive the barely-concealed happiness that follows:

I've received word that that my One-Act Play, "The Kite of Stars", won 2nd Prize in this year's Don Carlos Palanca Awards! Based on my little story that could, I returned to my stylistic roots and wrote the play as a minimalist choreo-poem.

Think I'm happy? As if my heart were not already trying to leap out of my chest with delight...

It turns out that my genre short story, "Hollow Girl: A Romance", also won 3rd Prize in Futuristic Fiction! The very same story that my friend Jeremy is illustrating for Siglo: Passion. A genre that I considered anathema to write (because I'm a fantasist in truth).

The double shock of being a double Palanca Awardee this year is a welcome panacea from my world of business and clients, and has done wonders for my writerly self. The last time this double award thing happened was ten years ago, when "Island: The Musical" and "Loving Toto" won for Full-length Play and One-Act Play, respectively. I was stunned then, I am stunned now.

I am also happy to hear that majority of the winners this year are first time authors, which points to the growing power of new voices (but of course I'm glad that the occassional dinosaur like me manages to stand my ground).

(Now, if Siglo: Freedom accomplishes my not-so-secret wish, it will be a hat trick that continues 2004's outrageously generous nature.)

Thanks to my true muse, my best bud and Big Guy Above from whom everything flows.

All these, for you.