It made me realize, too, how much I have neglected it these last few months.

I can confidently say I am an experienced blogger. I’ve been blogging on LiveJournal long before I knew exactly what the word “blogging” means, and my first freelance writing gig was a blog about business travel. Both the LiveJournal and the business travel blogs are long gone, and I have since moved on to blogging for other clients, ghostwriting their posts and promoting their blogs for them. Working on these blogs is easy and I love doing it.

Blogging for myself, on the other hand, is a different story altogether. It’s not that I don’t love having my own blog, one that has my name as its domain. It’s more like blogging for myself is a bigger challenge than I expected it to be.

Coming up with topics to write about is perhaps the most difficult thing about keeping my own blog. At first I thought to make Quiet Musings and Whimsies a niche blog about freelance writing. Yeah, that worked out alright. The more I read the freelance writing blogs of well-known writers like Carol Tice and Linda Formichelli, the more I realize there is still a lot I need to learn about the line of work I am in. I am not really an expert, so I leave the teaching to the experts. I can only share my observations and the lessons I learn as I plod along.

Besides, as it turned out, I couldn’t stand writing only about freelance writing and blogging and SEO and all that stuff. I already spend at least eight hours of my day on the job, and I am supposed to write about the job on my free time? I love my job, but I couldn’t do that, at least not here. Still, my mind got fixed on the idea that this blog is a niche blog, so it became a chore keeping it updated, even after I started alternating niche posts with personal posts and scribbles about the TV shows I watch, the books I read, and my fandoms.

And then the first anniversary of this blog rolled in. I ended up with a blog that is not what I imagined it to be. I stopped having fun updating it, and it became clear with the big gaps in between posts.

And then I had a light bulb moment. I named this blog Quiet Musings and Whimsies, with a tagline suggesting it’s a personal blog. The domain name is annasibal.com, my own name. The domain does not have the keywords “freelance writing” in it. So why the heck did I get fixated on keeping this a niche blog about freelance writing?

From now on, I am going to have fun with this blog again. I am going to post whatever the hell I want to post. I can, after all.

Image: Alan Cleaver

Reflections on One Year of Blogging is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies

It was a splendid and surprisingly intimate affair. The guest list was small and well-chosen. The people who showed up at the wedding were really meant to be there and were truly invested in the happiness of the bride and groom. Just immediate family and close friends, and none of the hangers-on you’d typically find at grand weddings who were only there to criticize the food and the gowns the bride and her entourage wore.

The Sibal family at the wedding. The groom stands second from the right, first row.

I admit that my brother’s wedding is both one of the happiest and one of the saddest days of my life. It’s one of the happiest because, for all the hardships and challenges Adner faced with his bride, it’s clear that he found true love early in his life and stuck with it. Manny is his first girlfriend and college sweetheart. They’ve been together for more than a decade.

It’s also one of the saddest because, for all those platitudes stating that my parents gained a daughter and my other brothers and I gained a sister, the fact remains that Adner has left us behind to start a new life of his own. His move has forced us to acknowledge that a chapter of our lives is closing and a new one is about to begin.

It’s hard to face that fact. We are a very close-knit family. My brothers and I never moved out of the family home during or after college. We lead private and professional lives separate from each other, but we are all the best of friends. We have family rows just like any family, but we always recover from these quarrels quickly. Most of all, we know we can always count on each other when one of us needs the family’s support. For most of our lives, it felt like it’s just us against the world.

And now, Adner has moved out. I, for one, feel his move very keenly. Of all my brothers, he’s the one who gets my nerdiness and my fandoms completely. Our minds work on almost the same wavelength. We like the same stuff. We look alike. We both stutter, too.

Now that Adner doesn’t live here anymore, I won’t have to scold him for not texting me if he has to come home past midnight. That’s Manny’s job now. I can’t text him to run errands for me and Mom before he goes home anymore, either. That’s Manny’s privilege now, too. I won’t have someone to share the blame for waking up the entire house at midnight because some Facebook meme was just too funny to hold the laughter in. And I won’t have someone to have midnight conversations over the kitchen counter anymore.

But such is life. One can’t expect things to stay the same forever. Adner is just the first of us to get married. I myself have plans to tie the knot soon. I’m sure my other brothers have similar plans as well.

Besides, it’s not like we’re going to stop being siblings just because we don’t live in the same house anymore. We can always visit each other. We can always call or text or email or post private messages on Facebook. We will always be siblings. We will always be friends.

My Brother’s Wedding is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies

This year, though, I’ve decided to revisit this ritual. 2013 is going to be a big year for me. I have serious plans for 2013, and I need to make serious changes in my life to make these plans happen. In order to make these serious changes, I have to set goals. This is where the New Year’s resolutions come in.

Of course, I could have just written the list and kept it in a folder where only I could see it. The problem with that scenario is I become accountable only to myself. If I do that, I might as well give up on the idea of creating New Year’s resolutions. The fact is I am pretty much an easy-going person. If I don’t force myself to become accountable to other people, then these resolutions are a goner. I’d be listing them, but I’d never work on them.

So, this post is basically an attempt to become accountable to someone else other than myself. It’s my
hope that in doing so, I’d have at least a couple, if not all, of these resolutions carried through by the time 2014 rolls in. Here goes.

1. Blog more consistently. I’ve been blogging for almost ten years now, using different accounts and different platforms. I thought to take my blogging to the next level by purchasing my own domain and setting up this blog. Obviously, I’ve not done so, mainly because I’m not consistent with my blogging. My usual excuse is work keeps me busy, but the truth is I lack organization in my blogging.
2. Blog more bravely. Another reason why I’ve not been consistent with my blogging is fear overtakes me sometimes. I’ve been a wallflower for most of my life. I was the girl no one takes notice of, and I’ve been happy that way. It’s hard for the wallflower to drag herself to the center of the dance floor and just dance. She’d be too worried about what the other people at the party have to say about her moves. She’d be so worried that she’d end up not dancing at all. It’s time for me to stop being the wallflower. It’s time for me to dance.
3. Finish my first novel. I’ve been working on a story for years now. I’m already done with the outline and the character sketches. It’s just a matter of actually writing the novel. I thought to join NaNoWriMo to give myself a push but ended up not doing so. I’m not going to wait for the next NaNoWriMo. Instead, I’m going for Patrice Sarath’s method of 250 words daily. Less pressure that way.
4. Build more passive income streams. I strongly believe I’ve got the best job in the world. Freelance writing allows me to stay at home and gives me more freedom with my work. But even the most dedicated freelance writers get burned out. I don’t see myself freelance writing until I reach retirement age, but I don’t see myself working in an office setting anymore, either. The best insurance I can make for myself is building sources of passive income. Hopefully this blog will be one of them. I have a couple other blogs to rework and re-launch. There’s also my Constant Content experiment, and then I’ll start posting articles on places like HubPages as well.
5. Lose weight. I’ve been trying to lose weight. I don’t want to say that it’s not working because I’ve not really been giving this endeavor the effort it deserves. I’m not getting any younger, and I want to live long enough to enjoy whatever children and grandchildren I’d be blessed with. That will only happen if I take weight loss more seriously.

These are the five most important goals I want to achieve by the end of 2013. I hope to look back on this blog post this time next year and find I’ve achieved most of it, if not all.

Do you have any New Year’s resolutions? Care to share them in the comments?

Image: Nicolas Boullosa/Flickr

New Year’s Resolutions is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies

2012 has been an interesting year. I hope 2013 would be an interesting year as well, for me and for you.

Happy Holidays! is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies

For those of you who haven’t heard of it yet, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is an annual, Internet-based event in which wannabe authors from all walks of life pound on their keyboards for the whole of November to come up with a 50,000-word manuscript for a novel. If you do the math, participating in NaNoWriMo means putting at least 1,667 words a day into your novel for 30 days.

Producing nearly 1,700 words a day sounds like a simple thing to do. But it’s really harder than it seems, even when you’re someone who writes for a living. In fact, coming up with around 1,700 words for a novel daily is a lot more difficult if you’re a wordsmith for hire.

A friend named Rebecca once told me that when you work with words all day for your daily bread, it can be tiresome to deal with more words on your off time, not even when you love writing and are truly dedicated to your craft. Rebecca would know. She’s a published author and she worked in the copywriting business for years.

For me, what Rebecca said holds true. I can easily write 2,000 to 3,000 words a day for my clients. And November is one of the busiest months in my freelance writing calendar. After I’m done with the day’s deadlines, I would rather watch TV or a movie on DVD, or play Torchlight or World of Warcraft or some Facebook game rather than write 1,700 words more for a novel.

Pushing oneself to create 50,000 words for a novel in the space of a month is good for some people. This level of pressure tends to bring out the genius in some writers. Unfortunately, I don’t belong to that group. I only cough up crappy work when I am under pressure.

I agree in part with Patrice Sarath when she said 250 words a day is enough. To quote from her blog:

“250 words a day gives you room to do research. It gives you time to read the authors you love so you can look at how they line words up and get to the root of what you love about their work. 250 words a day will give you breathing room and let your writing improve.”

Unlike Ms. Sarath, though, I don’t have any gripes against NaNoWriMo. In a way, it is a good thing. If November weren’t one of my busiest months, I would gladly sign up for it. Besides, NaNoWriMo does serve its purpose, which is to get wannabe novelists off their butts and write their masterpieces instead of just talking about them, without any fear of criticism, whether self-inflicted or otherwise. It’s just that NaNoWriMo is not for everyone. And for this year, it’s not for me.

(Image: mpclemens/Flickr Creative Commons)

Did You Join NaNoWriMo? is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies

(SPOILER ALERT. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

So Harry Dresden is back from the dead, thanks to Winter’s Queen Mab. Not only that, he’s also the new Winter Knight, the result of a deal Harry made with Mab in Changes to save little Maggie Mendoza from the clutches of the Red Court. With the help of a mysterious physical therapist named Sarissa and Mab’s rather brutal exercise regimen, Harry recovered from the effects of his coma and returned to fighting form.

Of course, since the Winter Knight serves as the Winter Queen’s killing machine, it’s now Harry’s job to snuff the people Mab wants snuffed. And since it’s Mab we’re talking about, we can pretty much expect her not to make the job easy for Harry. Harry’s first mission as the Winter Knight proved it so.

It won’t be a Harry Dresden book without one problem after another piling up for our previously deceased hero. So, aside from the assignment Mab gave him, Harry has to figure out what’s threatening to make Demonreach go boom along with the rest of the American Midwest. He has 24 hours to complete both missions. To add to the pressure, Harry has to fend off Fix, his erstwhile friend and current Summer Knight, as well as Winter Lady Maeve’s Sidhe goons. Also, Harry must find a way to pick up the pieces of his former life and convince his friends he’s not really dead.

There are two things I loved most about Cold Days. First, I really enjoyed how Jim Butcher tried to misdirect readers as to who is the real perpetrator of the chaos Harry has to straighten out, only for said readers to find out the answer is there right under their nose. And then, Mr. Butcher throws in a sudden twist that basically tells us that nothing is going to be the same in the Dresdenverse ever again.

Second, Cold Days throws the windows wide open on the world of Faerie. Readers are given a deeper insight as to how the Summer and Winter Courts work. The Queens of Faerie are no longer just powerful and terrifyingly beautiful entities in the Dresdenverse. They have very human-like qualities, which Mother Summer explained is the result of heavy mortal influence on the Sidhe.

I especially like how Mab is fleshed out as a character in this book. Mab has always been described as scary, ruthless and potentially insane. In Cold Days, we find out more about her motivations and that there are layers and layers to the character. We also learn that she plays a deep game of chess.

There’s just one detail I did not like with the story. That’s Karrin Murphy. I don’t understand her. Harry’s “death” broke her. One would think that after finding Harry to be alive, she’d jump at the chance of being able to explore a possible romance with him, just as they were about to at the end of Changes. After all, life is too short and few people ever get second chances like that. But no, Murphy chooses to be chicken and play the wait-and-see game again.

Here are a few not-so-spoilery notes about Cold Days:

• Butters got himself a girlfriend.
• Toot literally fell in love. She hates pizza, though.
• Bob discovered the Internet. And online porn.
• Cat Sith. ‘Nuff said.
• There’s another scene reminiscent of Harry’s ride on Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex in Dead Beat. I haven’t decided which one is more epic yet.
• Santa Claus is not the jolly old man we all believe him to be.

I really think Cold Days is the best Dresden Files book yet. I can’t wait for the next one to come out.

The Dresden Files: Cold Days [Spoiler Alert] is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies

In short, I’m not the ideal candidate for any marketing job. I didn’t even start promoting my work until recently. I had this notion that once I began freelance writing full-time, I won’t have to do any marketing. I’d just sit in front of my computer and write and write and write.

However, freelance writing and marketing do go hand in hand.

It was naïve of me to think otherwise. Working as a freelance writer does mean you get to be your own boss, but it doesn’t free you from the necessity of promoting yourself. In fact, you need to market your skills and services a lot more if you’re in the freelancing business.

Really, how can you get paying clients if no one knows you’re a freelance writer? Sure, you can create a passive income stream, but this takes time to build. Clients are the lifeblood of your freelance writing business.

You can get clients without really pitching.

Pitching, sending queries and making cold calls are staples for many established freelance writers. These pave the path to lucrative gigs, for sure. Not all writers like taking this path, though. A rejection letter is still a rejection letter, no matter how tough-skinned you are.

I’ve never written a pitch or sent queries or made cold calls. I know I should, but right now I’m content with the business I’m getting from sites like oDesk.com. Sites like oDesk.com have somehow gained a reputation as places where people can get freelancers on the cheap. But if you stand your ground and learn how to sift through job postings, you’ll find clients willing to pay you good money for your time and effort. It’s just a matter of finding them.

You can also blog if you don’t want to pitch. Bamidele Onibalusi recently wrote a great guide to catching high-paying clients without sending a single pitch; blogging is the method he described. Blogging doesn’t just give you the satisfaction of having a medium for expressing your thoughts. If you have a prospective client who wants samples of your writing, you don’t have to create new articles just to oblige them. Just point them to your blog.

Don’t be satisfied with a handful of clients.

If you’re just transitioning to freelance writing from a full-time office job, one of the things you have to shake out of is the employee mentality. Employees rely on their employers for their paycheck. Freelance writers, on the other hand, can’t afford that luxury.

Clients come and go. This is a lesson I learned the hard way. No matter how much a client likes you, they won’t always need your services. You may end up with more work than you can handle for one month and nothing on the next. So you can’t depend on just a client or two for your bread and butter, even if they say they want you to work for them full time. They can drop you as soon as they realize they don’t need you anymore.

This is why you have to market your freelance writing services even if you don’t feel like it. You should always try to get new clients. This way you guarantee you’ll always have work even if your regular clients don’t have anything for you to do.

Freelance writing and marketing go hand in hand. You can’t make freelance writing a paying job if you don’t promote your work and catch clients.

How do you promote your freelance writing services? Please share in the comments.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Marketing and the Freelance Writer is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies

The Philippine government begins implementation of this law today.

As its name obviously states, RA 10175 criminalizes heinous acts committed online, such as child pornography, identity theft, online fraud, piracy, deliberate distribution of viruses and malware, and others. Just like most laws, the principle behind this law is good. What makes it bad is it contains Section 4(c)4, an unfortunate snippet on libel that applies an 80-year-old libel law, namely Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code, to 21st century circumstances.

This antiquated law defines libel as: “public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.” As this article on Spot.ph aptly put it, “You’re damned if you’re lying and you’re damned if you’re telling the truth.”

Many law experts, media practitioners and bloggers have claimed Cybercrime Prevention Act is “a blow against free speech.” Senator Teofisto Guingona, who voted against the enactment of this law, called it “unconstitutional.” Said Sen. Guingona, “some parts of this bill clearly attempts to legislate morality and penalize people if they breach our standards. I feel as a legislator, we have no right to dictate what people should or should not see.”

And indeed RA 10175 is unconstitutional. Article III, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution states:

No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievance.”

Even more alarming than the inclusion of the libel clause in RA 10175 is the fact that the Cybercrime Prevention Act gives the Department of Justice (DOJ) overreaching powers for implementing this law. These powers include real-time collection of traffic data, computer and data confiscation, and restricting or blocking access to computer data found in violation of this law.

In his analysis, Atty. Mel Sta. Maria of TV5 described a rather scary situation where RA 10175 can be used to invade your privacy, deprive you of your use of your computer and the Internet and harass you continuously before you are even charged with anything in a court of law.

The Internet is ideally the bastion of freedom of speech, a basic human right. It is a place where we can say what we want when we want it without any fear of being persecuted or silenced by government policies or corporate agenda. Freedom of speech does come with certain responsibilities, such as not making malicious statements or perpetrating lies, but implementing legislation like the RA 10175 is a backward way of reminding us of these responsibilities.

As Forbes.com’s Paul Tassi said, “Once again we see a mix of ignorance to technology and the desire to exert further control over a population. Neither is pretty, and neither has any place in good government.”

Image: Inquirer Technology

Yesterday Was Black Tuesday… is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies

NAIA Terminal 1 (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Most of my holidays in recent years begin with an hour-wait at the arrivals area of Terminal 1 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). I can’t help but feel dismayed every single time I go there. The place is in dire need of TLC. The walls require a new coat of paint. The metal railings are broken in some places, with some exposed rusty edges sharp enough to cut skin. Many signages have letters missing. There aren’t enough chairs to accommodate the crowd. The toilets, though recently renovated, are not properly cleaned. There’s a pervading sewer smell about the place.

Just looking at the arrivals area, I really don’t wonder why NAIA Terminal 1 was declared the worst airport in the world last year. When you have guests expected at your house, one of the things you’d typically do is to make sure your house appears presentable when your guests arrive. Obviously, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) got it ass-backward.

On top of that, NAIA Terminal 1 is operating close to capacity. It’s only supposed to handle 4.5 million passengers every year, and the airport actually exceeded that in the 1990s. As of 2011, the number is pegged at 3.9 million.

The solution to the NAIA Terminal 1 problem is very simple: Upgrade it or transfer international flights to the newly built Terminal 3. Terminal 3 is designed to handle 13 million passengers annually, but right now it only handles Cebu Pacific and AirPhil Express flights. It barely operates at half its capacity. One blogger aptly called Terminal 3 a “Pinoy White Elephant.”

NAIA Terminal 3 Lobby (Image: Evan T. Hall)

But instead of maximizing the facilities of the NAIA Complex, the DOTC is actually considering replacing NAIA with Clark International Airport as the Philippines’ main international gateway. For me, the idea just doesn’t make sense. As IATA stated recently, this move won’t really solve the overcrowding problem at NAIA. Clark is at least 100 kilometers away from Manila. Manila is where most international travelers to the Philippines want to go. Why make it inconvenient for these travelers to get to Manila?

NAIA Terminal 1 doesn’t deserve to be the worst airport in the world. It doesn’t deserve to be set aside in favor of Clark. What it needs is a new shot at life, and if the DOTC and MIAA get their act together, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get NAIA up to snuff at all.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Should Remain RP’s Main International Gateway is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies

I’m especially looking forward to the new season of these TV shows:

Castle

As a crime procedural, ABC’s Castle is not that spectacular. The mysteries can be quite predictable. But Castle isn’t afraid to twist the formula a little and to poke fun at current trends in pop culture. It’s also a very quotable show. More importantly, it has a charismatic cast who work so well together. The antics of its leads – Nathan Fillion as novelist Richard Castle and Stana Katic as NYPD detective Kate Beckett – are amusing. Their will-they-or-won’t-they game is fresh, endearing and gratifying.

Boardwalk Empire

Watching The Sopranos prepared me for Boardwalk Empire. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be so convinced that Steve Buscemi can play Nucky Thompson, the godfather of Atlantic City and antihero of this Prohibition-era HBO drama. My only exposure to Buscemi before The Sopranos was through Adam Sandler’s comedies, where he played ridiculous bit roles. But Buscemi is no stooge in this show. It’s hard to hate Nucky Thompson no matter how atrocious he gets, and the way he dances with both his allies and adversaries is truly mesmerizing.

Downton Abbey

I am a sucker for period dramas, and ITV’s Downton Abbey is one fascinating example of the genre. I like how simple and understated it is, how relatable and uncontrived the plot arcs are. You can’t help but get pulled into the story as members of the Crawley family struggled against the profound changes the 20th century brought to their lives. Besides, Dame Maggie Smith is very funny as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham.

The Good Wife

CBS’s The Good Wife is delicious. That probably sounded wrong, but I can’t think of any other way to describe it. The legal drama appeals to the mind, but it doesn’t hesitate to reach down and pull at your gut. You won’t always agree with the choices Alicia Florrick, the titular good wife, makes, but you’ll always know and empathize with the why of it.

NCIS

I love the family dynamic in this military-set crime procedural from CBS. The cases of the week have become less than impressive lately, but the season arcs remain sweeping and, well, explosive. (I still think Ari Haswari was the best villain the show ever had. One shot from his gun changed everything.) This is also one show where you’d see all the characters evolve through the years (and even die on you).

Revenge

ABC’s modern spin on The Count of Monte Cristo keeps me wondering how Emily Thorne will be able to push her agenda without revealing her Big Secret. It also amazes me how masterfully she can spin her web of lies and build up collateral damage and still come up on top. That web will collapse one day, and I’m just curious how the elaborate deception will all come to an end.

So, this is my list of TV shows to watch this fall. What about you? What returning TV shows are you most looking forward to?

My Fall Season TV List is a post from: Quiet Musings and Whimsies