6/30/2025
Letters to Myself
6/26/2025
Devoseries
The book has 180 devos, each one complete in itself. But as you read the next pages till the last entry, you’ll see the progression of a complete story—with a beginning, middle, and ending.
I initially wrote the book as a novelette for young readers, complete with characters, plot, setting, and theme. But when the editorial board of CSM read the manuscript, they asked me if I could divide it into bite-size pieces for our readers to truly and easily understand the values.
Was it possible? Not on my own. Grace came to point and guide the way.
Result: chewable, short entries, each with a prayer and a verse on which the value, through a slice-of life, was based.
What’s it about? Broken relationships made whole again: acknowledging faults, seeking forgiveness, praying for each other, demonstrating love and compassion—all mirroring God's forgiveness and reconciliation.
I thought it was a one-off project. But I was surprised when CSM messaged me last year that they needed another devoseries to be launched this year. A year! The writing time was reasonable.
But towards the end of my deadline, I suffered a terrible setback. Tony was hospitalized and on his 20th day, he was called home by our Savior. It was in his hospital room where I continued working with his encouragement—and yes, I met my deadline.
Five months after Tony’s last day with us, today, the manuscript has been edited and reinforced, and as I wrote finis to the book, I am in awe of how the Lord makes things possible.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV
In September, at the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF 2025), devoseries 2 will be launched. What’s it about? I don’t want to pre-empt the launching so let me leave the answer and the cover blank.
6/22/2025
Fan, Just Fan
6/18/2025
Brief
6/14/2025
Tuesdays
On Tuesdays, I am reminded of the now-classic Tuesdays with Morrie (a memoir by Mitch Albom), which I enjoyed reading sometime in the late 1990s.
I am in good company. This particular book continues to be popular among the reading crowd. It was in the New York Times bestsellers list for over 200 weeks. Now it is the best-selling memoir of all time. It has sold over 20 million copies in more than 59 territories worldwide. Despite all that, there were many initial negative reviews: “same old; sappy; like a Hallmark greeting card; oversimplified; pseudo intellectual).
Tuesdays with Morrie began as a modest labor of love to help with the hospital bills of Morrie Schwartz, Albom's past Sociology professor, who was dying of ALS. The unprecedented success of the book shocked book lovers.
From here, Albom moved to writing real-life fiction (about 20 to date and one more to be launched this year).
I have savored only half of that number. I look forward to reading the others as they make it to the Philippine bookstores. My latest purchase, which I could not put down:
Albom, as many of you already know, is an American author, journalist (sports), and musician. What makes him so popular as an author?
Well, the underlying themes of his books are love, relationships, authenticity, transience, choices, acceptance, and grace—values that should endure but are now in “Lost and Found” or in the trash bin.
For me, his books make for a riveting read because of the surprises that spring at me along the way. He interweaves his characters with values and conflicts, then solves them almost seamlessly in the end.
You don’t have to believe me. Each reader has his own reading preferences. For one, Tony read spy thrillers and history books (one book a week) and didn't give my book choices a glance,
Tuesdays remind me of the kind of books I read and the timeless values I always write about so they may not be lost or tossed into the trash bin.