The women of ‘First Draft’
By Elizabeth Lolarga
In my 30s, I joined the Women Writers in Media Now (still existing but under a different and shortened name), which put out two ground-breaking volumes, published by New Day, with an all-women authorship. Decades passed before I joined anything like it.
It was everybody’s cultural heroine Gilda Cordero-Fernando who told me about her group of women writers in their senior years, getting together for monthly “readings” of their works. I asked if I could join when she shared that there was one memorable essay read aloud by Chit Santos, still going by the name Chit Roces, entitled “Unmarried Love.” The title alone won me over. I begged Gilda if I could just sit in at one of their sessions like the curiosity seeker that I am.
She gave my name to the group; there was instant acceptance and a vote for me to come at the next meeting, a December evening at the elegant condominium home of Rita Ledesma. Lorna Kalaw Tirol was the most welcoming.
I remember this on a Lenten Friday because I stumbled on this 2009 picture, taken also in December, at Rita’s dining room. The lady in the photograph is a known Indian guru, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda. a proponent of Siddha Yoga. (When Rita learned I shared the exact same birthday as her teacher, she warmed up to me totally, even inviting me to meditation sessions at their center near Magallanes Village.)
“First Draft’s” monthly meetings moved from house to house, from elegant restaurant to chic cafe. When it was my turn to host at scholar Edna Zapanta Manlapaz’s La Vista abode, I asked Waya Araos, then operating a food business from her UP Diliman home, to cater the Indian food. We all fell in love with her samosas.
Because I was “it” as host, Gilda thoughtfully brought for me and for our consumption a round caramel cake from Estrel’s (she always knew my favorites).
Our readings and breaking of bread went on for more than 10 years until some members suggested that it was time to gather our creative non-fiction into a book. Gilda right away appointed Fe C. Arriola as general editor, pleased as she was with the latter’s work in the best-selling (of all GCF Books titles) “History of the Burgis.”
The book didn’t get off the ground, although I did submit my contributions on schedule. But during the lockdown, the surviving women of “First Draft,” motivated more by grief for losing Gilda and then Rita in quick succession, decided to go ahead with the book despite pandemic restrictions that made face to face encounters difficult.
We survivors each have our stories to tell…and it’s high time we did! Lorna has taken over the duties of editor, issuing gentle reminders of things that need rewriting or updating or total replacing.
We are moving on schedule and manage to meet deadlines, making me feel that Blessed Gilda is shepherding us from wherever she is. Rita, too, in her softspoken way. It is not coincidental that we have in our roster Karina Africa Bolasco, publishing doyenne, to oversee the production/publication phase.
It’s three months before Gilda’s 93rd birthday by which time we’ll be ready first with an e-book. I’m preempting the announcement, but the members agreed also on producing physical copies of the book for our family, friends and admirers. Char!
Long live “First Draft” and the company of women!
Meanwhile, it is close to the end of December as I write this addendum to our saga. The joyful surviving members of “First Draft” now have in their hands “First Draft: Personal Essays by Ten Women” published by Tahanan Books.
The woman behind Tahanan Books, Reni Roxas Singer, announced in her letter to the group: “We will begin to sell ‘First Draft’in the U.S. as soon as someone can bring copies into the country. (We still need to rely on the old Pinoy-style pakisuyo/padala route!) So if you know of anyone flying to the U.S. next month who won’t mind shipping a dozen copies to my Seattle address, that would help, for starters. Once I start servicing orders out of Seattle, we will upload the book on Amazon. And let’s not forget, we will be sure to sell your book at our Women Writing events next year.”
That perked us up, making us more determined and less shy about directly selling copies of our book to friends and relatives looking for presents to give away during the holidays. Mariel N. Francisco, who wrote the introduction to the book, spoke for herself and noted how she experienced “multiple sales: 10 to my sister; six to a friend, four to a cousin, etc.” She even surprised herself by selling copies at a wake!
I can imagine Gilda, from wherever she is, laughing at our initial foray into group publishing, considering the sacrifices she made for her deluxe line of Filipiniana. She drafted, handpicked all of us in this group and was never absent for any meeting, except for one excusable time when she had to attend to her husband Marcelo. And she always came with her homework, handwritten on yellow-ruled paper or collegiate notebook.
As we begin the new year, it is good to reflect on Gilda’s words:
“When a cycle in one’s life ends, like publishing, or theater, or motherhood, one sits, lost in a sea of books and costumes, strollers, travel posters, and golf clubs wondering what that was all about. Did the stages of one’s life achieve what they were supposed to? Do the cycles have meaning larger than one’s own small world?…
“But like the granaries in the old bible and the testament of the fairy tales, even while the bodega is emptying it is being filled again.
“Only this time I know better. It is not junk that it is filling with, but love—and its exchanges.”
