Someone's In My Head (WATTYS AWARD WINNER 2015)

The Story of My Life - WATTY AWARDS

I know I am horribly late on this, but hey, it's better late than nothing!

So, as you guys might have already known, I won the Wattys 2015 awards with my Science Fiction novel, Someone's In My Head. And since I've already written a shitass long status about my exaggerated reaction when I received the news, I decided to dedicate this chapter to write about my journey in writing...and there goes our first tongue-twister of the day.

But first let's have a quick recap on my ridiculous reaction when I found out that I've won the Wattys. To those that have already read this status, just keep scrolling down until you see the words "BANANA JETPACK" in block letters.

OH. MY. HOLY. FRIGGING. DIMSUM. CAKE. GUACAMOLE.

So today was yet another boring, tiring day, and I was about to fall dead into my bed after an exhausting studying session in college, when I saw this message, from THEWATTYS in my inbox:

"Thank you so much for entering the Wattys. We have some great news to share: Your story has won a Watty! Congratulations!"

The next few moments was a blur. I don't know what did I do; all I knew was that my roommates came dashing out a few heartbeats later asking me if everything is alright. Apparently, I must have shouted so loud in joy and excitement that it made them think that I'd probably set fire to my own bum or something.

Seriously, words can't even describe the amount of joy that I'm feeling right now. For months, I've been waiting and praying (to whatever omniscient being out there) that I could win a Watty Award, and finally, my long-awaited dream has come true.

I would like to grab this opportunity to thank all my AWESOME followers for your constant and undying support. A huge thank-you fistbump to everyone who read SIMH, and sincerely, a ginormous thank-you hug to everybody on the Team SIMH. You guys are the sole reason that I could win this AMAZING award, and for that, I'm indebted to you all forever! LOVE YOU ALL <3 <3 <3

BANANA JETPACK

This might come as a surprise to you, but my journey in writing wasn't as smooth as you think it might be. Like most writers out there, I fell in love with writing through reading. I still remember the first English book (CONFESSION #1: English isn't my mother tongue, neither was it my first language, but I fell in love with it anyway) that kindled my interest in literature was the book adaptation of the movie Finding Nemo (don't judge; I was five). I read it, cover-to-cover, for God knows how many times. The story might have the clichéd Disney story arc, but I couldn't care less. I ABSOLUTELY ADORED it.

Then, when I started elementary school (they call it primary school back where I'm from), I could be found digging through the mountains of old books in my school's library. They might smell funny, but I still had these unfathomable crushes for them, like the one Romeo has on Juliet. Except that in my case, there were literally thousands of these Juliets that I've had crushes on.

There was also this gang of friends that I had in primary school that were reading fanatics like me. As I hung around them, I started to realize that they weren't just reading fanatics; they also loved to write the most random stories that you can think up of – from Gregor and the Underworld Chronicles fanfiction to corny love stories that featured our very own classmates. Their enthusiasm in writing was contagious; soon I found myself scribbling in some unused exercise books about my day, about wild, unedited thoughts – basically about anything that popped into my mind.