I interview romance author Mina V. Esguerra about her writing process and how she manages to hit her word count goals. We also go in-depth about her difficulties with her latest book Kiss and Cry (which is available now so go get it). While we chatted, we had a yummy lunch at Mom & Tina's in Greenhills on the Lunar New Year (yes this episode is super late sorry).

But wait, there's more! At the end of the episode, there's a recording of a live reading from last year's #RomanceClass FeelsFest of an excerpt from Mina's book What Kind of Day, the first book in her Six 32 Central series. The live reading was performed by Gio Gahol and Graie So.

Mina V. Esguerra writes contemporary romance novels. Visit minavesguerra.com to learn more about her writing, publishing experiments, events, and advocacies.

When not writing romance, she is president of communications firm Bronze Age Media, development communication consultant, publisher, and publishing mentor. She created the workshop series “Author at Once” for writers and publishers, and #romanceclass for aspiring romance writers.

Her young adult/fantasy trilogy Interim Goddess of Love is a college love story featuring gods from Philippine mythology. Her contemporary romance novellas won the Filipino Readers’ Choice awards for Chick Lit in 2012 (Fairy Tale Fail) and 2013 (That Kind of Guy).

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Show Notes

00:00:15 – Intro 00:00:50 - Our guest: Mina V. Esguerra 00:01:21 - What is #RomanceClass? 00:01:38 - Mom & Tina’s 00:02:15 - The problem with having known your guest for a really long time 00:05:15 – Interview with Mina V. Esguerra 00:05:40 - We talk about the cafe we’re at 00:06:35 - What we’re eating/drinking 00:08:01 - Q: Plotter or pantser? 00:10:46 - On sharing your writing progress to the public 00:13:20 - On how hard it was to finish Kiss and Cry 00:15:22 - Q: Do you like challenging yourself? 00:19:40 - Q: Do you write long hand or on the computer? 00:20:09 - Productivity tool: the bluetooth keyboard 00:22:32 - Productivity tool: Google Docs, Notepad, notebook 00:23:42 - Q: Are you picky with your pens and notebooks? 00:25:23 - Productivity hack: Writing long hand 00:27:46 - Vellum as a publishing and productivity tool 00:31:08 - Q: Most productive work hours? 00:34:17 - Writing excercise/challenge: writing out of sequence 00:36:46 - Productivity hack: recording notes with your phone 00:38:26 - Q: Is there an author whose career you would like to emulate? 00:38:54 - On Beverly Jenkins and the difficulty of accessing diverse books locally 00:39:43 - On writing books —especially romances — set in time periods that were Not Fun 00:40:56 - On reading authors who have greatly influenced other authors you’ve read 00:45:40 - Mina’s newest book— Fil-Ams, figure skating, and hot hockey action (maybe) 00:47:44 - About Mina's Six 32 Central Series, how it's different/similar to her previous book series Chic Manila 00:49:00 - On writing characters younger than you 00:53:10 - On writing and reading romance series 00:56:50 - Q: How many books are you publishing this year? 00:57:35 - A new anthology : real wedding, fake dates— coming in 2019 00:58:49 - Mina’s upcoming serialized short story 01:00:31 - Q: Any #RomanceClass workshops in 2019? 01:00:48 - #RomanceClass imprints: Flicker and Flair 01:01:48 - Follow Mina on social media (Twitter, Instagram) and on her website. 01:02:03 - Contact Mina through her website 01:03:39 - The #RomanceClass short films (teaser here) 01:04:56 - Thank you, Mina! 01:05:55 – Outro 01:06:44 - Soon: April Feels Day on April 27, 2019 01:09:49 - Upcoming podcast guests: Brigitte Bautista, Jay E. Tria and Six de los Reyes 01:05:55 – Outro 01:10:50 – Live reading of an excerpt from What Kind of Day by Mina V. Esguerra, performed by Gio Gahol and Graie So

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