romanceclass is a community of authors and readers who gather together to support indie published contemporary romance written by Filipino authors. Whether they’re a reader or an author, all community members have their romanceclass origin story… various stories of how and when they joined the community. romanceclass origins is a blog feature that highlights these origin stories.
Visit the earlier romanceclass origins posts here. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting author Georgette Gonzales in person because she’s now based in the USA, but we’ve interacted online and I’m so glad she’s here on the blog to share her romanceclass origin story. Thank you for being here, Gette!
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1) How did you discover romanceclass?
I didn’t exactly discover romanceclass. More like romanceclass discovered me. I think. Lemme ‘splain.
It all started with Anne Plaza, Clara Romance, and her #buqoYA novella, Fall For Grace. (Anne and I first became friends through My Special Valentine.) First thing she asked of me was if I was willing to submit something for the website’s first issue. I did. And then during the #buqoYA season, she asked me to edit her work because it was in Tagalog. Following that, she introduced me to the Facebook group of Romance Writers of the Philippines. There, I got to “meet” many other authors who did not move in the same circle I did – romance authors who wrote in English and who self-publish their works. Mina V. Esguerra was among them although I already knew her by name and reputation. I added her as a friend on Facebook, followed her on Twitter too. I was feeling a bit shy (and a teeny bit stupid), but I “introduced” myself to her by sending her a Twitter comment or two about self-publishing on Amazon. Other than that, I just generally stalked her and the other writers I’d gotten to know.
Sometime later, she tweeted about going to Dumaguete for a talk and forum. And yay! Not one to pass up the opportunity, I asked at once if she’d maybe have time for a quick meet up. Happily, we were able to connect – over coffee and dessert on the first day, and lunch on the second day. Later on, she was already back in Manila, she informed me she added me to the romanceclass group. And that was it.
My first big involvement was helping edit some of the submissions for #TalesFromTheMetro. #Tales had also been the first solid building block for me to be able to put my English stories out there. After writing three of these short shorts, I came up with a whole anthology, and so there was Of Love And Special Things as a result.
While I do have short story contributions to Promdi Heart (Once Upon A Bully) and Summer Feels (Then Derrick Was Back), of course, the ultimate objective would be to publish a full novella that fulfills #romanceclass guidelines. I had hoped to achieve this with #romanceclass2017 but at the time, I was also stressing about leaving the Philippines so I wasn’t able to finish my story. Will get to that someday. Promise.
So far though, I am close to getting one done… Uh… Nope. Scratch that. I WILL get one done as soon as I’m able to. Lord help me.
2) What does being part of the romanceclass community mean to you?
I love the family feels. That’s how I’ve seen and felt romanceclass members treat each other – like family. It’s amazing how we are each other’s best supporters, passing each other recommendations and opportunities, being the first patron for whatever we come up with. I am grateful for the new friends I have made, for the chances to learn new things whether about writing romance or just life, in general. Grateful mostly for the gift of feels. Woot!
The community and what we do are growing and becoming more important. I appreciate and applaud what we have achieved and what we will yet achieve for romance writers and readers, and how we have designated ourselves to be the (sort of) guardians of the romance genre. Don’t diss us. We will fight back. Rawr.
3) What are your recommended romanceclass reads?
I have yet to plow through my romanceclass TBR pile because I’ve only read very few. But among those, I recommend:
Dare to Love by C.P. Santi
The Queen’s Game by Carla K. de Guzman
Iris After The Incident by Mina V. Esguerra
The Kitchen When It Sizzles by Chrissie Peria
Promdi Heart (because love your own)
Summer Feels (kasi nga love your own)
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Georgette began writing novels as Edith Joaquin of My Special Valentine Tagalog (Filipino) Romance pocketbooks, published by Bookware Publishing Corp. She started writing in English and self-pubbing works in the middle of 2015.
Gette works best at night, is also an editor, a public/media relations consultant, loves to cook pasta dishes and to eat caramel cake.
