Q. Tell me a little about yourself?
A. I was born in Cebu, Philippines. I moved to Saipan when my dad, who’s from Puerto Rico/Hawaii wanted a change of scenery and lifestyle for us. He wanted something American, like how he lived and so the closest is Saipan, which is a US territory, so it fit perfectly.
I went to school here: William S Reyes (Chalan Kanoa) Elementary, then Hopwood Jr High, and then Marianas High School.
I have my own business, which is a website, video production, photography, media company. I love doing my own things and enjoying it. I love creating new things, new ideas of something that might interest me. It can be something from a story concept, to an idea of a website that could be beneficial for people here in the CNMI or the world, such as my websites I’ve created, LocalGoodys.com which focuses on grocery’s, indigenous art and food delicacy, clothes, and so much more of shopping online but focusing on local products within your community. And then I have GreenCrossAide.com which is a cannabis online shopping center, but isn’t just reservation of order for the dispensary, but also accepting crypto currency for transactions because of unavailability of banks accepting cannabis industry sales. My upcoming website is NowMunchies.com which I’m currently building. That’s really exciting.
And I have my book launch with Sirena, Sirena series I’m going to release, then my finalizing edits of my YA book, Into the Heavens, which when finished, I’ll do a book launch as well, and then my websites. So it’s a pretty exciting and busy time for me.
Q. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
A. They’re pretty random. An idea could come from a dream. I would dream it and then I would wake up from that dream and I would immediately write it down in my Notes in my phone or on a piece of paper. Other times, I could be inspired from a song, or a passage of history. Really, anything can inspire me. It’s odd that way. Sometimes, I also think of necessity. If it’s a screenplay, compared to books, I would think of a story of what is around me and of what I can use with that. So pretty random.
Q. When did you write your first book and how old were you?
I was like 11-12 years old I think. Whatever age it is when you’re in the 7th grade here in Saipan. I mean, I would just write to write even before then, but I think to really conceptualize from beginning to end of a story, it was around that age. What’s funny is, that story never left me. I ended up writing more into it and it went up from being a couple pages art/story project for class to being a 74-plus pages/ over 60,000 word count children’s book. That is called “Into the Heavens.” I plan to have it edited by a professional editor when I get the funds for that and then probably self-publish. It’ll be a lot of work, but I’m passionate about the story.
Q. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
I think it’s just the process of creating a story itself. Creating characters with personality, and emotion, and situations that you think about on the top of your head. You can write the synopsis, index cards, specific outlines of the whole story, but once you actually get into it and write within it, I think everyone surprises themselves that they just created life on a page. And when it’s honest and real, you end up treasuring every word, every detail. That’s why writers are so personal when people criticize their work, because the writer basically birthed that conceptual idea onto a page. It’s fascinating, but I’m not going to lie, it’s frustrating as well. That’s the work in the end, and just to sit and write that world, takes a lot out of me. I think that’s why when I start a story, I have to literally prepare myself mentally to begin and end the whole thing through. It takes a lot out of you.
Q. Do you like to create books for adults?
A. I am writing a couple of children’s books and series, but I am also preparing to write an adult novel soon. Probably tomorrow. Hahaha. I am fascinated by history and my upcoming book will involve a real-life figure with real life situations. But the story within itself is fiction. So that’s pretty exciting for me to get into. It’s just, I have to get into it. As I’ve said, it takes a lot out of me to start writing a whole story from beginning to end because it’ll take months to write. I’m preparing myself I think. I’ve got the outline and everything setup, I just need to start writing again. I already started on it. I’m in the middle of the Prologue and into Chapter one.
Q. How would you describe your ideal reader?
So right now, I’ve got two books that I’m planning on releasing. The first one is a language immersion book for Kindergarten through Second Grade, I think. And the other is more on the Middle School level. The Language Immersion book is a Chamorro/English book which is a series that will contain various subjects per book. The first book is the Alphabet book from Chamorro/English and the following books after that are Math, and then Science, and then Spelling, and so forth. So that’s exciting. I’m taking the learning aspect of the subjects and turning it into fun stories that are related to a local/Chamorro legend in the CNMI. The book centers on various animal life in the CNMI and searching for their best friend, Sirena the Mermaid after a typhoon hits the islands. In their journey in searching for Sirena, they learn the various subjects in their quest to find their best friend. The alphabet book will come out in the coming months with Book Reading events throughout Saipan. The following books in the series will come out a few months from each other. The other book which will take longer is my Young Adult novel. That needs to be professionally edited. And after that, then I will begin the rollout and promotion.
Q. Any closing remarks?
A. So it’s a lot of work.
Thank you! Please keep us posted about your upcoming events!