The Power is Within You

The Bataan Death March
Two years ago, I reached a positive step in my writing activities. I have my first article published (Marinduque: Ecotourism Capital of the Philippines) by www.huliq.com last July 2009 The next day, my second article ( US Parks Encourage Tourism to National Parks and Monuments) was also published by this Citizen News Review-an on line newspaper/magazine. Huliq.com is an independent news organization that encourages citizens like me to contribute daily news and reviews on business, politics, health, science, technology, sports, arts, recreation and social issues from all parts of the world. Huliq.com will publish articles on the above topics or on any subject that in the judgment of the author will make our world more livable and better. So why do I consider this event a positive step in my writing career. Let me explain why.

I never had any formal training on news writing or creative writing and English is not my mother language. My expertise is in science and new drugs development and regulations. My first writing experience was during my high school days way back in the late 1940's in a small rural high school in the Philippines, when I was elected Editor of our high school newsletter published quarterly. My whole college experience was all devoted to science and chemistry so that by early 1960's, I obtained my masters and doctorate degrees in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Illinois in Chicago. Then there is the period of almost 38 years, working as a bench chemist for three major Pharmaceutical companies and later as a Chemistry Team Leader for the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) supervising the work of five chemists with doctorate degrees. My job in FDA required reviewing new drug applications submitted by pharmaceutical companies worldwide in the field of Anti-infective drug products ( antibiotics, anti-malarial and anti-parasitic drug products). My professional career did not require the ability of writing news. However it did require, the ability to write concise and simple scientific reports, easily understood by both non-scientists and scientifically trained personnel.

After my retirement from FDA in 2002, I decided to start blogging, just to keep busy. Surprisingly, I enjoyed writing articles about my life experiences, and about my second home in Marinduque, as well as other miscellaneous topics, such as retirement, travel, hobbies, medical mission management and volunteerism. I also started creating a website for my small beach resort business( Chateau Du Mer) in the Philippines. Today, I have 9 blog sites on tourism, retirement opportunities in the Philippines, life in general in the Philippines and United States. I have also completed writing my autobiography that I dedicated to my six grandchildren here in the US. In this autobiography, I also discussed the lives of my parents who were born in the early 1900 in the Philippines. In my dedication to my children and grand children, I indicated that knowing their roots should give them a better understanding and clearer picture of their future.

Prior to the publication of my first article on Huliq.com, I have three articles about the Philippines that had been published by a private on line magazine publisher in the Philippines. Today, I have written more than one thousand articles in my 8 blog sites. Prior to the publication of my first news article, I feel just like an ordinary blogger. Once in a while, I get comments from a couple of visitors in my site that they enjoy my style of writing but still feel like a frustrated writer.

When I wrote in Face Book that I no longer feel like a frustrated writer but a full-pledged citizen journalist, my sister-in-law from Australia commented that any thing you want, you can accomplished, since the POWER IS WITHIN YOU. With this comment I feel motivated to write more news articles for Huliq.com and continue my blogging activities. I finished my third article( Revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP),Philippines and was publihed also on July, 2009.

Seven weeks ago, I discovered ViewsHound via my FaceBook account.I have submitted 36articles and 4 photographs. Thirty-one of my articles and all of my photographs have been published so far. I am enjoying writing for Viewshound. I have over 6500 views, and four followers at present. I have won a gold award($50)for my article on my childhood memories of the Japanese-American war in the Philippines. This award reinforced my feeling that I am now a full-pledged writer and not a frustrated blogger.