United We Read

\ by

Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, one of the many reasons why I haven’t been blogging lately is because I’ve been busy using my creative juices over at the Filipino ReaderCon website. This year, I decided to step up and have a bigger role in the conference just because it’s about something I feel passionate about. I became the head of the Online Promotions team, which wasn’t really different from what I did last year, save for a few more responsibilities.

So most of my responsibilities happened before the event: managing the website, helping out with the Filipino Readers’ Choice Awards, twitter, Facebook. It wasn’t that stressful, but it did zap me of some writing juices hence the silence in this blog. And that other blog.

But anyway. Last Saturday was D-day, and man, what a day it was. I love being a part of events, really, and events about books and reading really just takes the cake. Since my main responsibility for the day was to live tweet and to update Facebook every now and then, I was pretty relaxed. Especially since I had a very capable online promotions team who were ready to do the live tweeting for the different panels. :)

Online Promotions! Yay! (Photo from Ella)

So the morning sessions went by smoothly and Internet was running perfectly and tweets were coming in with the hashtag #filreadercon. I was tweeting, too, from my phone, and it was quite a tiring thing, but it gave me some time to listen to the panels. I just love the energy of the people, both online and offline.

And then, my good friend Celina tweeted this:

And then I double checked on my Tweetdeck:

Continue Reading →

Posted in: Events \ Tagged: , , ,

United We Read: The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon

\ by

One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging much lately is because I was kind of busy ever since July rolled around. You know how sometimes, your love for something just extends out and makes you do things that you never thought you’d be doing? Oh, and it’s not in a bad way, of course. I just find it amazing that my love for books gave me an opportunity to be a part of things like these.

Anyway, this weekend is a big weekend for Filipino readers! It’s time for the 2nd Filipino ReaderCon!

United We Read: The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon
August 18, 2012, 8:00am to 6:00pm
Filipinas Heritage Library

I realized that I didn’t have a proper blog entry for the ReaderCon last year except for this In My Mailbox post, which kind of makes me sad because I had fun at the event last year and I should have documented it. Nevertheless, this year’s event is bound to be bigger because it’s a whole day event, and we have more things in store for everyone! Like panels about Reading Everywhere, Book Blogging Ethics, Publisher’s Perspective on Readers, School Reading Programs, and Authors As Readers. There will also be Book Discussions in the afternoon, where our book club is doing a replay of our February book discussion, The Little Prince. And then the winners of the Filipino Readers’ Choice Awards will be announced too! :)

Since I’m in charge of online promotions, I’ll be busy live tweeting the event with my team, so be sure to follow the @PinoyReaderCon twitter, and/or like the Filipino ReaderCon 2012 Facebook Page since we’ll be posting some updates there, too. :)

United We Read: The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon will be on August 18, 2012 (Saturday), 8:00am to 6:00pm at the Filipinas Heritage Library. Registration fee is Php150, and you can pre-register for the event here. This event is held in partnership with Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL) and National Book Development Board (NBDB), and sponsored by Scholastic, Lampara Books, McDonald’s, Flipreads, Anvil Publishing, Hachette Philippines, Amici Philippines, OMF Literature and Adarna House.

If you’re attending the event, make sure you say hi! :) See you!

Posted in: Events \ Tagged: , , ,

ReaderCon 2012 Filipino Friday 4: Books and Friends

\ by

Filipino FridayHappy Friday everyone! It feels like I’m waking up from a long, kind of unpleasant dream today, with the rains and floods that’s happened in Manila lately. I hope everyone’s okay, though, or at least, recovering well!

On another note, it’s a little over a week till the 2nd Filipino ReaderCon! Ahh, I’m so excited! Are you? :) It will be a very busy day for me, but I won’t mind. It’s going to be on August 18, at the Filipinas Heritage Library — if you haven’t pre-registered, make sure you do so now so you can secure your slot!

I also really like this week’s Filipino Friday topic — enough of the rambling now, let’s answer it. :)

August 10 – Books and Friends. We will have book discussions hosted by several book clubs during the ReaderCon, so to prepare us for that, let’s talk about books and friendships and book clubs. Are you a part of a book club? If yes, what made you join one? What’s your favorite activity that you have with them? If you’re not a part of one, will you consider joining one? Why or why not?

Or if you’re not (yet) a part of a book club, do you have friends who share the same passion for books as you do? Do you have a “bookish” best friend? If yes, tell us about them! How did you become friends? What’s your favorite memory with them?

I’ve been a part of Goodreads – The Filipino Group since late 2010. I’ve talked about the first meet-up I attended on the blog before, and like what I’ve kept on saying, it’s really one of the best decisions I’ve ever done. I’m a social person, and I really want to share the things I like with people who has the same interest. My online communities often die because I end up lurking forever, so I was kind of expecting that it would happen with this, too. But I guess meeting people in the flesh makes it different because ever since that first meet-up, I’ve been meeting with them quite regularly, and I can say that they really are my friends. *sniff*

gr-filipinos

The first meet-up I attended with TFG

It’s been two years since that meet-up, and we’ve done so many things as a group. We used to have palengke meet-ups, or just informal meet-ups where everyone talks and exchanges books and all that. We watched movies together, hunted for books together, attended conferences together, partied together, and even went on some trips out of town with each other. Our big meet-ups used to be four times a year, but just recently, we’ve been meeting more often because of our monthly face to face discussions.

*cue photo dump!*

Continue Reading →

Posted in: General \ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,