A literary career is no easy pursuit. Unlike a nine to five profession in which a supervisor appraises one's performance and then offers a promotion, no set pattern exists on how one makes it as an author. As of the publication of POTATO QUEEN, I had amassed a stack of at least 220 rejection letters from literary journals, agents, and publishers over a ten-year period. I say this with pride, for if acceptance came easily, then I would never have discovered the good things about myself that have enabled me to persevere – that I'm tenacious, dedicated, and passionate.

  Certain people and events have inspired me, too. No artist is born out of a void, and so not to give credit where credit is due is to be foolhardy. Van Gogh never knew fame and fortune; Steinbeck endured 75 rejections before his first publication; and music critics lambasted Callas as possessing an ugly voice.

 Yet despite these obstacles… or perhaps because of them… these personalities rose above the crowd to create art of mythological stature. I am also lucky to hail from a country that continues to be a hot bed of political intrigue.  The Spanish and American colonization of the Philippines, along with the Marcos dictatorship and its aftermath, have plunged the country into cultural and economic rubble.  And from this rubble we Filipinos have many stories to tell on the grand scale of a Hollywood epic.

 Now I save my family for last because their belief in me has been the most inspiring.   What more can I say?   Simply that I write to immortalize the people I love.