Having
been brought up by forward-thinking parents, I've never been skittish about
writing anything sexy --- or even anything that pushes the boundaries of
normal. Except werewolves. I draw the line when it involves someone, or
something, remotely resembles my pet dog. Anyway, my parents have always
encouraged me to write, and simply avoided reading the steamy stuff, more for
their own sake than mine.
The thing
is, I never really considered publishing anything. I was contented showing my
husband (and occasionally, my mom) the stuff I wrote. Even with all these
platforms making self-publishing easy, I couldn't find any reason to show
everyone my work. Then Mina made this announcement for #BuqoSteamyReads.
I just had to give it a shot.
I did, and
I ended up with a steamy romance novella. Unfortunately, I only found out about
the deadline for the final draft two weeks before it was due. I didn't think it
was enough time to clean up the mess I called a manuscript. People would be
paying to read my story, and I wanted to make sure it was worth their money.
My
solution? Write another story. But this time, shorter. I targeted a word count
that the workshop originally called for --- 5,000 words of steamy romance. I
pushed myself to finish it, and thankfully, I completed a 10,000-word short
story. My editor, Chris Mariano, helped pull off what could have been an
otherwise impossible writing feat for me.
From my
manuscript's storyline, I came up with a prelude, “Passion Within The Stone Walls.” It told the story of Paige de Guia, the childhood friend of the
novella's heroine. I needed a PR agent in the series, and Paige was perfect for
the part. But the hardest was the setting. Where could I put Paige and Sean's
group together without finding out they both knew my novella's heroine?
I didn't
have to ponder long. My husband had been bugging me to organize the photo
archive in my hard drive, and it just so happened the first photo album I
opened gave me the answer to my setting problem.
Batanes.
In my past
life, I was a travel blogger (and no, I will not tell you what my blog name
was). Batanes, particularly its island of Sabtang, was one of the places I
swore I would return to. But, life happened. I figured I could at least revisit
the island through my fictional characters, and somehow relive the experience
when a place actually made me want to retire at the tender age of twenty-five.
Since the
story is fiction, I took the liberty
of “ignoring” a few updates on real-life details (last I heard, electricity in
Sabtang now goes out earlier instead of at midnight). But the island remains
the same – peaceful and enchanting. I tried
my best to capture in words the awe I felt during my own visit to the island,
but I don't think I could ever do justice to the beautiful province that is
Batanes. You need to go there to see for yourself.
Still need
convincing? Perhaps Paige can persuade you. Get Passion Within The Stone Walls
from Buqo.ph :)
Kali
Ragilles is a twenty-something writer living in Manila, Philippines with her
husband and their pet dog. She loves watching romantic comedies and eating
french fries. Follow her on Twitter @AuthorKali
(http://www.twitter.com/AuthorKali), like her page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kali-Ragilles/676478679071528),
or visit kaliragilles.com to contact Kali and sign up for her mailing list.
Passion Within the Stone Walls is part of the Passion #buqosteamyreads bundle. Get it on buqo for iOS and Android, or at buqo.ph.
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