I got accepted as one of the fellows for the inaugural Bangsamoro Writers Workshop, scheduled for June 4-7, 2026.
What is a Writing Workshop?
A Writers Workshop is not the typical workshop we usually attend where there’s a lecturer and then the participants listen.Rather, it’s where writers convene and then share and critique each other’s works.
Some bigger and more formal workshops, like this one, have panelists.
What Did I Write?
My main piece was actually the one entitled “When A Witch Raised Me”, this is not about my mom.
The workshop required two pieces for the nonfiction category, but I only wrote one.
So to meet the requirement, I thought about what I could write about that wouldn’t require me to research.
Something that I know well like the back of my hand. So I wrote about writing.
I titled this second piece “On Getting Lost in the World of Words”.
I know I suck at titling. This is my personal problem, even at my writing gigs.
Thank God, the workshop director allowed us to revise our submitted manuscripts.
Because my pieces really need revision.
Some parts sagged, the other parts rushed. So I made a major revision. From a narrative essay, it turned it into a reflective essay and retitled it “The Craft of Drafts”.
But here’s my problem: I later learned that we were also required to write a poetics essay.
That is, another essay about why and how we write, who we write for, and what we usually write about. And I was afraid I’d repeat some parts with my second essay.
Fortunately, the workshop director extended our deadline so I made sure my two essays won’t overlap.
Long story short, I did.
We’ll be having the workshop this June 4, organized by the Bangsamoro Literary Review, and I’m excited to meet and learm from fellow Bangsamoro writers, and hear their works and thoughts.
Why Did I Join
I am beyond grateful for the Bangsamoro Literary Review for organizing this workshop and holding it in Cotabato City.
Being a creative person living in Cotabato City is actually lonely.
I mean, I know we have so many creatives here, and they’re really good at their craft. But I noticed they’re not interested in building a community.
There seem to be no writers’ club or book clubs in Cotabato City, while other parts of Mindanao have active literary groups such as the Sarangani Writers’ League, the Cotabato Literary Circle, and the Davao Writers Guild.
Institutions here in Cotabato City have strong campus journalism programs and many talented creative writers too. But I don’t know, after they graduate, they probably get busy, or just not really interested in connecting with other writers.
Or maybe because, just like me, they’re also waiting for someone to bring everyone together.
