The pen is mightier than the sword provided that you use the pen.

The pen is mightier than the sword provided that you are adept at both, for you must know how to fight for your body as well as for your spirit.

The pen is mightier than the sword provided than someone else's sword does not get to you first.

It is always the book rather than its movie version that changes your life, for it is the words, not the visuals, that wrench the hearts of readers within personal frames of reference beyond any producer's imagination.

A picture may be worth more than a thousand words, but those words in the proper combination are far more eloquent and far more lethal.

Perfecting penmanship is easy. Like any other skill, all it takes are passion and exercise.

A clean, empty desk is like a Word document from which everything has been deleted.

Most people fear solitude because, in solitude, they are haunted by their shortcomings and their past offenses.

Writers and artists, on the other hand, gaze into the pool of solitude and see not scenes from their tortured past but a treasure trove of ideas that fuel creativity.

In-Depth Writing Exercise 4

When writing about a character, are you capable of thinking, talking, and behaving like that character in real life? If your answer is no, then you are incapable of fully developing that character for your work.

Go through a day in the life of your character and think, talk, and behave like him or her: from the time you rise from bed through the time you go back to bed. You will find that your preferences in food, in clothing, in colors, and in items for personal use will conform to those of that character. So will your vocabulary and your speech pattern. Explore the interests and activities of that character.

Needless to say, I hope, you do not go over the edge if your character is a psychopath, a sociopath, a serial killer, a rapist, a drug addict, a nudist, a prostitute, or anything that will bring yourself or others to ridicule or to harm.

After you have successfully performed this exercise--using a hopefully normal, wholesome character--you will find that you have acquired more empathy with and a better ability to connect and relate to others, not to mention a deeper understanding of yourself, for every character you create is really a facet of your Self.

Keep a shelf or an etagere to contain all of the objects that stimulate your writing.

Writer's block does not exist. Whenever you feel stymied, simply switch from computer to paper (or vice-versa), switch pens, or temporarily move to another room in your house.

Collect magnifying lenses and learn how to use them and discover wonderful thngs with them. They are not exclusive to the artist and the antique collector.

Tin cans of different shapes and sizes serve both the artist and the writer well. For the writer, they function as containers for nibs, monolith erasers, spare parts of pens, staple wires, binder clips, and such.

A monolith eraser has a soft, white half and a rough, gray half. The latter is used to gently erase ink marks, instead of using a pen knife.

When working on multiple projects, do not put everything in one notebook. Devote one specific notebook to each project.

Some types of paper, such as newsprint, are highly absorbent and will cause your ink to feather. Do not dispose of this type of paper. Use a fine-point sign pen on it, and you will find the sensation to be quite enjoyable.

Night persons are active at night because they actually fear the night, which pronounces everything that makes them sad.

The worst ever scenes in wuxia are those that showcase petty flirtations, which seem to have been written and directed for the low-IQ sector of the audience.

Public clamor is a form of disrespect.

The Real Message of Pygmalion

When I was working at ________________________________, I had a young staff member named Noel who once confessed to me, in a semi-drunken stupor, that he cannot stand any kind of imperfection in a woman, be it a skin blemish, a slight deformity, or a habit, and that, once he notes such an imperfection in any woman he is dating, he abandons her completely and for good. That was in 1978. I wonder if he has found his perfect woman, and if he is married now. The irony is, he is not unique. Many men are like that.

Despite all the deconstructions the story of Pygmalion has gone through, the real message is not that a creator can raise an inanimate statue to the level of humanity. Sadly, the real message is that the creator of a perfect work of art expects humans to be as perfect as his work of art, and nothing less.

Doctors who continue to believe that their penmanship should be illegible are victims of writing superstition. That is why only a few doctors are creative writers.

At this day and age, anyone who insists on using illegible penmanship has a great fear of transparency.

It is all right to judge a book by its cover if the writer himself designed and executed the cover.

Never let other people touch your pens. Two years ago I was in an office staff meeting, and the co-worker beside me idly picked up one of my dragon pens. Instead of carefully unscrewing the cap she pulled it off as though it were a cheap ballpoint pen.

Ultimately, it is how you judge your own work that really counts.

If you are an incorrigible pencil user, collect all of your sharpened, one-inch, pencil stubs and place them in a clear, glass, demijohn. It will make an interesting conversation piece.

Use only one side of a sheet of paper when writing notes for a novel or play. That way you can lay all of your notes side by side without having to flip sheets over.

You can always use the reverse sides later.

Old notebooks normally have unused pages within them, and so, do not throw them away. You can use them to write notes and draw sketches on. If the notebook covers are soiled, simply cut off the unused pages and put them in a sheaf inside a leather folder.

Just In Case You Still Don't Know

We can all go back to text-messaging in ANY CORRECTLY SPELLED LANGUAGE again, and there should be no more excuses not to do so. Years ago our mobile services charged us PER LETTER AND PER SPACE, forcing everyone to abbreviate and truncate their words. All of that is now a thing of the past--you could text entire chunks of War and Peace if you wanted to.

So, laugh out loud. Don't LOL--it makes you a low-budget relic.

Let's communicate with correct grammar and spelling again. It maintains our dignity as writers.

Try writing in different parts of your house: in bed, on the floor, at your study desk, in the kitchen, in the dining room, on the front porch overlooking the street, in the garden, even on your toilet seat. Explore the physicality of actual writing. Identify for yourself which condition is most conducive to writing.

What works for you will work for you alone, and not for other writers.

The effect of any piece of creative writing on any reader is irreversible.

Your Vowels Propel Power

Did you know that the usual vowels A-E-I-O-U are the fuel that propels your words forward?

Though seemingly unrelated to creative writing, this is one of the principles in modern Philippine magic. Vowels taken in different combinations are expressions of the 72 Hebrew Names of God, and are worked into spells.

Take I-A-O-U-E, which, when enunciated, translates to Yahweh. Or I-E-O-U-A, which, when enunciated, translates to Jehovah. Can you then see how "A-E-I-O-U" is really "Yahweh-Jehovah" if you connect the string of vowels in a circle?

Can you think of other combinations of vowels that secretly contain words of power?

Depth Writing Exercises 1 - 3

Write the entire alphabet on a sheet of paper in upper case and in lower case using your normal, cursive style.

1. Which letters do you enjoy forming most? What do you visually associate with those letters?

2. Which letters do you enjoy forming least? What do you visually associate with those letters?

3. Reflect on the letters you like least. Are any of these in YOUR NAME? If so, how do they affect your self-esteem?

3. Take the letters you enjoy forming least and make an effort to improve them. Be subtle, be drastic. Be whimsical, exaggerate. Continue doing so until you form the letter shapes that please you most.

Then write words, phrases, and sentences using those letters.

4. For a complete change in your life, write the entire alphabet differently. You don't have to consult calligraphy books to do so, just use your associative memory and your imagination.

Use your new penmanship for a few days. Write down your reflections in a journal. How does the change affect you? Do you feel like a different person?

You can always switch back to your old penmanship whenever you want to.

To apply #4 to actual, creative writing, use a different style of penmanship for every character in your novel or play. You will find that it affects each character's vocabulary, tone, and speech pattern. That is because penmanship is a direct extension of the mind. Unbeknownst to you, it literally spells out all of your failures and successes.

Never write to give readers what they want.

Write to give them something so different and unexpected that they will never be the same again.

Writing is the art of revealing to your readers not what is illumined by the arc of a lighted lamp but everything that is beyond the circular periphery of the lamplight.

Writing is never a form of escape. It, on the other hand, puts in black and white concrete realities about your innermost fears, and everything you ever wish to escape from.

Writing, then, is a form of confrontation of the self.