Writing is my passion, it is also my escape from the stress of daily life. I wanted to write as frequent as possible however my day work hinders me from doing so. To keep myself motivated and pursue my happiness, I decided to register for a Creative Non-fiction Writing Workshop last weekend. Attending workshop alone can be exciting but it is more fun if shared with a friend, so I also encouraged one of my friend Mai ( ok, you might be wondering about Doris’, she’s tied-up with an event that day, wink..wink..)
The workshop was held at Fullybooked in BGC and oh boy….I was so excited, one reason is the workshop but also because Fullybooked is a 4-storey building field with great books.. also after workshop I can stay longer and read until I drop. Our facilitator by the way is Ms Susan Lara, a well-known Filipina Writer and a Carlos Palanca Memorial Awardee for Short Story. 
Since this is a workshop, I already expected the participants to be grouped and there will be writing exercises and sharing of our work. I preempted everything (i also facilitate workshops), and yes we were grouped, there were 6 of us in our group, 2 men and 4 women from varied walks of life. One an accountant who is looking for diversion from her number crunching work, another a banker who wanted to pursue writing, another one a Spanish guy who works for another institution, 3 other younger girls who would want to pursue writing too and I, well you know the reason why I attended (although there’s more than that….. :))
The exercise was to write at at least 2 paragraphs following this format…..
I used to idolize/ admire/ love/ hate/ dislike……. Until……….
We had to apply the elements of a good CNF such as use of sensory details, engaging dialogues, an identifiable theme (insights) etc etc
After we completed the task we were supposed to discuss with a partner and ask/give feedback, after which one member shall represent the group and read his/her work in front of all workshop participants…
Now probably you are already excited what I wrote.. here it goes……………..
I used to idolize MACGYVER when I he was introduced to me at age 10. At first, I was mesmerized by his good looks, those wavy blonde hair, hypnotizing eyes and smile which made me giggle. I thought he was the handsomest guy in the world. Aside from his jaw dropping good looks, his profession also captured my interest and attention. I new he worked for an agency and then a private firm as a trouble shooter who is always on call which ended up in rescuing or helping someone. Even though he was always in a mission he still looked dashing in his pair of jeans, shirt and leather jacket! His style made him look more manly ad attractive to my 10-yr old eyes 😉
On the other hand, him being a jack-of-all-trades on a mission and being able to create something out of nothing impressed me. I recalled one episode wherein Macgyver and Pete was trapped inside a trailer van which was rigged by with dynamite (thanks to Murdoch), he was scanning the trailer for possible ways to open it while Pete was distracting him with comments.. he ended up using a taxi cab without engine to blast their way out from the trailer just in time before the dynamite exploded. I was so amazed on how brilliant, creative, brave and yet handsome he was even when distressed! For me he was my hero, whom I wanted to emulate. His aversement with guns and non-violent ways of solving problem was just awesome! In my young mind, I wanted to be like him, a genius, a person who loves children and with a big heart for the less fortunate. Someone who is always ready to give a lending hand. For that reason I took up BS Chemistry in college, because I dreamt of becoming a scientist, a chemist to be specific because I knew then he was a chemist! That dream of becoming a Chemist and help people had been my motivation, no… it was Macgyver who was my inspiration to finish the course however tough it was!
Until when I graduated and watched the rerun of Macgyver did I realise that most of the extraordinary things he had done were mostly applications of Applied Physics and less of Chemistry!!!!! ha ha ha ha Furthermore I found out and proven that what he had been doing were mostly made up and with less scientific basis 🙂 LOL……… I was made to believe all those were real ha ha ha… well who cares I was infatuated and it felt good!!!
This is what I have written during our workshop within 15 minutes.. later on I was tasked to read my work in-front of the class. I used my skill in story telling to make my work sound excellent and inviting, and I was happy that it made them feel infatuated, giddy and excited like a teenager would feel when he/she sees his/her crush 🙂
How about you? How did you feel? Let me know 🙂
Cheers!
-Arlyn
Niceties Of Life 