Page 3 - May 2018 - December 2018 Issue

Editor’s Note

No excuses!

I don’t know why but, I can’t seem to stop
reading about writing tips and advises. But
in my opinion, the only nugget of wisdom
that gets dug up in these literary pieces on
the writing life is: “No excuses.” A phrase
that reminds us that when all is said and
done, the writer must write, period.

Writing is not easy, there are days that
inspiration will touch you and words just
flow, your fingers adept and one with the
keyboard and typing away striking each
key to perfection, and there are days that
it’s just blank, nothing, just a void. A mentor
once said, just write, have an objective for
your topic, write in any form that comes to
you, and if you forget a word put xxx. Then
leave it, for a day or two, go back to it, read
it out loud and then you will see clarity on
where you want to take your story.

And our objective? It’s to connect. Connect the different MPT South teams spread around Cavite,
Laguna, and Metro Manila, heck, connect everyone who would care to read our work. And we took
these written words, colorful pictures and exciting videos, placed it in a medium common to all
and accessible to all – the Internet. Hence the SOUTHLINK is born. Internet based, it can be
accessed via mobile, tablet or computer, it can even be accessed on your SMART TV! Aint
technology grand!

And that is what the editorial team did in the last 8 months of 2018. Write, write and write some
more. I’m sure we all had our good and bad days, but we wrote just the same. We wrote stories
about town, progress of our projects, tips and guides, and beyond the written word are visual
stories - photo collages and videos telling stories capturing emotions and aspirations.
Of course, it’s not easy. But it was fun. It’s not easy thinking of story line ups, and once we have
them, we further subject it to a critiquing session, which is poking fun on the topics, thinking up
of scenarios how a writer would interview, this would elicit giggles and even big belly laughs. But
what made it possible is we just did it. The truth is, I believe we’re doing good work here, and there
is no need to justify it. No matter how long it takes; no matter how many revisions or edits, we
shouldn’t have to offer excuses for how we got here. The writing life in the last 8 months that
made up this yearbook wasn’t as messy as we thought it would be, and there’s no secret to
success. Instead, there are many paths leading to where we want to go and we ended up here, in
this, and every issue, offering anything and everything under the Southern Sun, but the common
denominator is the power of the willingness to write.

Cheers to the first series of stories of 2018 in hardcopy, the tangible proof that in writing there are
no justifications and no excuses are necessary.

Arlette

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