8. Look What I Found: MY 1st NOVEL at 12

Now here’s another find while I was organizing our grand old bookcase---my first book! Yes, at age 12, I was a "published" author.

 I told you I was born to write. I think I was emboldened to write this “novel” after an article of mine saw print on the school paper. Mind you, I did not just write this book, I also wrote it longhand using an old fountain pen, chapter by chapter, page by page. Then, I bound it, sewing the folios and using a blue cartolina as a cover. It used to have a dust jacket, with a colored picture clipped from a magazine, but that has since disintegrated a long time ago. I think it took me a year to finish my obra maestra.

 So now, I hold again this first ‘book’, once lost and now found, tucked between our old family tomes. I cringed when I scanned the pages. What was I thinking when I wrote this literary abomination? But back then, I thought I had written a masterpiece.

 BESTSELLER OR BUST. My cartolina-covered book, with a self-designed logo, written at 12, finished at 13. This used to have a dustjacket, but that didn't make the story any more interesting!.

 The title of my “ARC Classic” is:--The Piece of Paper. I will spare you the gory story details because I am embarrassed just by recalling them. In one sentence, this is the saga of a rich man’s daughter, reared by a peasant family due to a cruel twist of fate, who underwent horrible torture in the hands of a haciendero who turned out to be her father after her baptismal certificate (the piece of paper, remember?) was found. I think I combined the storylines of the Prince and the Pauper, Les Miserables, Wuthering Heights and Noli Me Tangere in creating the convoluted plot, which was not only horrible, but downright impossible.

 THE PIECE OF CRAP, ERR, PAPER. The title page of my handwritten book masterpiece. Written and printed by Alexander R. Castro (c) 1970. (Aba, may copyright pa! )And such temerity to proclaim--"No part of this book may be reproduced without permission of the author". Hahaha. Who would want to pirate this book?

 In 19th century Philippines where the story was set (yes, for my first opus, I wanted a period novel), baptismal certificates did not exist—birth details were recorded on thick church ledgers. To lend an air of authenticity, I even included Spanish lines in the book, mostly cuss words.

The first readers of my book were my next-door cousins, who gave my novel fabulous reviews. I think my pride came crashing back to earth when my uncle borrowed and returned it to me after an hour, saying that there’s so much senseless verbiage and flowery words, it bored him to death and couldn’t sleep afterwards.

 IN HIS OWN WRITE. In fairness, my handwriting was good and legible. I wish I could say the same for the plot of my novel. One day, I'm going to put up a family museum and this opus will have a place of honor in the exhibit. Good idea?

 Was I miffed! “The Piece of Paper”—a piece of crap? I'll show him! One day, I will win a Pulitzer! And so, I immediately went to work on a second book, a more ambitious project done in collaboration with my kid sister. I always believed that 2 heads are better than 1! I am sure I have that book in a box somewhere.. (ITUTULOY)