Part 2: The Controversial Writer Returns to the Buzz

Part 2: The Controversial Writer Returns to The Buzz
March 8th, 2008

Part 2 Interview with Boy Abunda at The Buzz:

BA: Let’s talk about your Promdi series. Why do you write a big deal about it?

CZ: The “Promdi in America, Lost in Transition” will be the last one in this series, unfortunately. Many would think that I’m exploiting myself and think that I have low self esteem in this series. But humility is my virtue that easily gets lost. I wrote these promdi stories to remind myself everyday that I am not perfect, that I’m born with factory defects. My true life is boring and insignificant that I don’t have sad stories about hardships and broken hearts, but I can tell that I have walked in the shoes of a baker, a baby sitter, house cleaner, a waitress here in America before I found the right path to my success.

BA: Will you share your success story to your readers?

CZ: No. My success story is written by my Creator, and not me. I have nothing to be proud of because I did nothing to earn any of it. I came to this world with nothing and will leave with nothing but this memoirs in my blog.

BA: Your readers are not English Majors as you are as a writer. They might take your writings literally, like you talking to your dogs. They might think you are crazy.

CZ: I like to show my sophistication and originality as a writer. My dogs’ part in my writings plays my alter ego. My readers are not idiots to think that dogs can actually talk or think like me, and I’m sorry if they do. My readers are educated enough to appreciate my wishful thinking and my blending of reality and fantasy. It catches their attention. It makes them wonder that I’m so out of this world.

BA: Take me to your ideal holiday or vacation.

CZ: In my mind, I am in French Riviera, one of the best beaches in France, reading a book about plastic surgery, having European pastries for breakfast and staying in some fancy Chateau Villa, going to art museums to look at Monet’s and Van Gogh’s, and having dinner in Paris with the perfect view of the Ifle Tower. But in my heart, I am having pan de sal with margarine and sugar, fresh coconut, banana fritters (turon), and halo-halo, and fried fish (pritong galungong, that is!). I am in our beach house in Gasan, scribbling on my notepad to describe the gentle sound of sea water slapping on my feet while I bury my toes in the warm sand, floating on the water on my tube (salbabida) as the waves take me farther from the shore, looking up at the blue skies and the islands around me, waving at the fisherman’s boat, and looking down on the clear water and wondered how peaceful it is down there and if I can be a part of that world ….

BA: Wow, you just took me there for a minute. What do you think when you write?

CZ: I pick a character of who I want to be. I think of the words that can take me to the place where I want to be, and take my readers with me. It is my best and cheapest escape from my high-pressured job, and stressful life. It’s a very high maintenance hobby.

BA: What else do we need to know about your style as a sophisticated writer?

CZ: I’m a best actress drama queen playing my dream roles in my own writings. Roles that I may not be able to play or become in reality… like I’m a Hollywood Diva, a Country Rock Star, American Idol, America’s Top Model, Wowowee Dancer, whatever I want to be, I can be in my literary cyber world. It’s very liberating…. Best example is being a celebrity here in this interview with you.