"DON'T BE A WRITER" ACCORDING TO JESSICA ZAFRA

For the past decade, I only got to read her. But finally, I got to listen to her.

It was her book that introduced me to a new style of writing. Jessica Zafra cultivated my enthusiasm for reading with her wit, sarcasm, and amusing take on pop culture, social issues, and political dramas. No matter how dull, serious, and overanalyzed some topics were, she managed to write a “deviant” take on them, which turned out to be forthright funny yet surprisingly true.

It was no wonder then that her opinions written for her Twisted column in the now-defunct newspaper Today eventually became a book of the same title. It was apparently a very apt label to caution readers of this “twisted” author with her “twisted” ideas.

She gained a following among Filipino readers who found themselves saying “oo nga ano..” while reading her piece. They welcomed her unique ideas, thinking that they found their voices in her. They read her column and bought her book, wishing that they could also be infected with her intellectual humor. And this was a decade ago when social media was non-existent.

Jessica Zafra at the Ayala Museum

Jessica Zafra has not been in my consciousness for a very long time (it was back in college when I last read her books) until I saw a promotional invitation of her mortal presence at the Ayala Museum last August 2. The title of the event was “Don’t Be a Writer,” which was quite a discouraging “come on” for an aspiring writer like me. But knowing her signature style of nuttiness and cynicism, Jessica Zafra succeeded in making me pay money to listen to her talk that made me “rethink” about my passion for writing.

Here are some of the excerpts from her “sermon.” Just a warning though, unlike rousing feel-good speeches that people pay for, this is neither inspirational nor motivational. So according to Jessica Zafra, “Don’t be a Writer” because…

      1. There is no Job Security

Obviously, this is true. Freelance writers usually get paid per article and then get their checks two months after the article has been published. The funny thing that Jessica pointed out was that the current fees for contributed articles were the same as 10 years ago. (As a long-time freelance writer, I am also a victim of this reality). So essentially, there is no steady income for writers, and even if they get compensated, the pay is very minimal.

And since there is no job security for freelance writers, waiting for that “inspiration to write” is futile. Basically, it is the principle of “no write, no eat” that ultimately motivates writers to churn out as many articles as possible, or face the threat of starvation or homelessness.

2. There is not enough readers

For Jessica, the Philippines is not a reading culture. Interestingly, it merely takes 3,000 copies to be sold for a book to be labeled as a “bestseller” in this country of 100 million people. Aggravating this fact is the reality that books are fast becoming the casualties of the digital age.  

And I think given the advent of social media, reading has become a short and hurried experience. I also concur with Jessica that this trend has resulted in a low level of discourse because people do not engage in an intellectual and respectful debate anymore. As evident in the social media, Filipinos tend to either get personal when arguing ideas or just “agree” or “disagree” when opinions are raised.   

     3. You Don’t Get Days Off

Contrary to people’s perceptions, freelance writers do not have a vacation. According to Jessica, writers must feed their brains a lot of information and this sometimes requires moving out of their regular lives to have something to write about. Essentially, they cannot take a rest, they always think. 

     4. You Have to Be Alone

Writing, for Jessica, is engaging one’s self in a conversation with themselves. This is why most writers read a lot because they are alone; and literature consoles them. Most of the time, writers read novels because they get the chance to live many lives. If a writer does not read and becomes boring, then he/she would not have anything interesting to say to one’s self.

5. You Become a Cannibal

Everything in a writer’s life is material. The tendency for writers is to ask: “How could I put this experience into words?” For Jessica, this eventually “cannibalizes” one’s experiences.

      6. You Will Get Ripped Off

Your ideas can be stolen. And this happens most of the time.

      7. You Must Be Your Own Worst Critic

As one of the most popular and experienced Filipino writers, Jessica shares that there is no process of critiquing the works of writers in the country. I have to agree because during those times that I have been contributing articles in several publications, editors do not inform me about my mistakes and my weaknesses as a writer. They will just edit and revise the article and I will only see the edited version once it is published.  

Given this limited practice in evaluating writing, Jessica has this piece of advice: aside from being your own critic, let other people you trust read your article and comment on it. If you are secure in your abilities, criticism will not get to you. It will still hurt, but it will not hurt as much.  

Jessica Zafra Signs books for her Filipino fan readers

Indeed, “Don’t Be a Writer” is not for the dreamy and faint-hearted writers. In her usual mocking yet comical self, Jessica Zafra talks about writing as it is--- the horrors, terrors, irritations, and anxieties of it--- from her own perspective. Thankfully, the talk was not all about whining and grievances against the writing world; surprisingly the audience got something out of it.

If there is one piece of advice about writing that I got from her, it is to have that discipline to write but not forcing it on yourself, otherwise “it will only kill your enthusiasm for it.”

I am glad that I had the opportunity to listen to her journey as a writer. Ironically, her talk on the grim realities of being a writer comforted me, knowing that even well-published and well-known writers like her go through the same challenges that unknown writers like me go through. What a relief!