Preparing for Chris
1st of 5 Installments

By Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

Author's Note: These are my personal impressions about the writing seminar with Chris Eboch, which was sponsored by the Philippine chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) in Manila on July 15 and 16, 2006. Chris is the Regional Advisor for SCBWI New Mexico, and the author several of books including The Well of Sacrifice, a young adult historical fiction set in 9th century Guatemala. - Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki)

I always think I know it all and have seen it all but am always, always proven wrong.

In my work at the CCP, I have played host and nanny to literally more than a hundred artists and groups. Three or four have remained good friends. I have wined them, dined them, attended their shows and workshops, gone shopping and touring with them and best of all have had long, long coffee laden conversations with them.

So when Beaulah and I started planning the activities of Chris Eboch in Manila, I was pretty confident that I knew what to do and what to expect.

I cannot even pinpoint the exact date we sat down and started brainstorming for this project. It was early in the year, I remember. Our individual personal schedules were laid on the table and between that and our other concerns, Beaulah managed to lay out a timetable for SCBWI for 2006. Wonderful planner that woman.

Hundreds of e-mails later, in March or April I think, we started searching for a suitable venue. We went to Coconut Palace, to Intramuros, to the CCP and to a number of hotels. Some of these were places one or both of us were familiar with, others were venues we went to check out on the off chance that thay might be suitable. We ended up in Orchid Garden, a sweet little hotel, tucked in beside the Vietnamese Embassy and in front of the far more imposing Sheraton. We loved the place because of its cozy little lobby which was forever playing instrumental classical music, the rooms which seemed comfortable enough and the food which we of course sampled. Best of all, the price was well within our range. We were truly tempted by Intramuros - what better place after all for a seminar on writing historical fiction? But logistics were a tad more difficult, especially for two women who could only devote part of their time to the project.

And so we met the first of many, many interesting characters in this story. Her name is Grace and she is the account manager assigned to us by Orchid Garden. Grace is very fair, has curly black hair, round black eyes and a smile which never wavers. Ever since we met her, her make-up was always impeccable and her clothes were never rumpled. She made it a point to always greet us with a very firm handshake and her conversation was liberally sprinkled with "ma'am" this and "ma'am" that. Her paperwork was not as impeccable as her clothing but somehow, it was very difficult to get annoyed with this woman. She just smiled so readily and so easily. I cannot recall a time when she ever said no to us. It was always "yes I will see if it is possible." Of course, there were many things which were not possible, but as far as she was able, I think Grace tried to get us what we wanted. Tried. Not everything was under her control, but at least she tried.

Through this entire process Beaulah kept up a continous stream of e-mail: with me, with Chris, with other SCBWI members. Eventually, I started e-mailing Chris directly as we arranged the details of the trip. On any given day, I would turn on my office computer at my customary 6:30 am and find at least two e-mails about the seminar. Towards May, it was not unusual to see five e-mails a day from Beaulah, from Chris, from many other people. This workshop was built, was constructed on a foundation of talk and never ending communication.

From these electronic conversations, I was reminded again of the first time I met and worked with Beaulah, almost twenty years ago in 1987. Her attention to detail was there as was her honesty. Every topic was discussed with candor - finances, venue, personnel needed, even the way our personal schedules and family lives would be affected by the work entailed in putting together the activity. Together we worked out what the bottom line would be, the point of no return when we would make a final decision to either cancel or push through with the workshop. We knew how many school visits were possible, how many students per school, etc. Between the two of us and with the help of Ani, we ended up sharing a network of many, many schools and individuals. Personal calls and e-mails were made to these networks and still more e-mails flew. Yes, Beaulah, ever the Math teacher, ever the master planner, reminded me over and over again to look at the teeny, tiny details of everything - from the workshop to the school visits to the tours.

Snail mail was also sent to this shared network as well as text messages and telephone calls.

My first impression of Chris, stricly from e-mail, was that she was very, well, American in the nicest way possible. Very frank, very easy to talk to, very up front about what she wanted and needed and very open. She said "yes" to nearly everything we suggested and gently let us know her preferences. So we dropped Corregidor when we learned that she was not much into World War II and added a couple more school visits when she said she was open to that.

Finally July came around and it was crunch time. Almost daily we would get e-mails and calls from people who were interested. The average number of e-mails sent and received daily climbed to seven. Sometimes, Beaulah and I would sit beside each other in an internet cafe and forward e-mails to each other. It sure beats sitting at a table and passing hard copies around! And the stuff we sent to Chris would have driven her crazy if she were not so patient with us. Long, long e-mails with many, many details.

But we were happy. We were well on our way to forty participants. A good number, considering tht Beaulah and I had agreed to push through even with just ten. The school visits were surprisingly easy to arrange. They almost fell into our laps. It took just one e-mail and two phone calls to get St. Scholastica's College to say "yes." The Philippine High School for the Arts said "yes" with just one call. I spoke to a friend about attending the workshop and the next thing I knew, she had spoken to her school directress not about the workshop but about a school visit. For this, the Nazareth School pursued us and of course we said "yes, yes, yes!"

Along the way, it seemed that the project kept giving birth or rather kept growing extra arms and legs. We never planned on three school visits, but that is what we got. We never planned on a press interview but they came to us. And we never thought we could hike that much anymore, but we did - and not just on level ground! But I am getting ahead of myself.

While Beaulah and I were definitely the ones who spoke of the project ad infinitum and ad nauseam, there were many others who, with their ideas and their words and their network and their actions helped us tremendously. First of all, there's Ani. As always, she made her entire office available. All fax messages were sent to her. She sent letters to all the Writing Centers and e-mailed to her very, very broad network of friends and colleagues. From day one she was in touch with us as various registrants paid and sent their information. Finally, she waived the rental for their LCD projector and lent it to us, for two whole days. During the first session of the workshop itself, she served as official powerpoint button presser.

There was also Neni. Without Neni, there would have been no school visit to St. Scholastica's College. Neni was there for us to talk to and to bounce off ideas. Neni also tapped her broad network of friends and colleagues for the workshop. She attempted to bring in Beacon, and she did succeed because one of their teachers joined us on the 15th and the 16th.

And there there were Beaulah's sons. The strength of this woman lies within herself and within her family. And her family joined us in full force. From the planning stage onwards, Homer drove us from place to place to place. He was there as we negotiated with Orchid Garden, he viewed Coconut Palace along with us, and he sampled the delicious food in Intramuros along with us as well. If not for a very minor accident, this young man would happily have taken charge of touring Chris around Intramuros.

But to me, the real revelation was Ikoy. I had known Ikoy for a long, long time. Beaulah and I worked together in the same publishing company way back in 1987, and that was where Ikoy was first introduced to me: he was still a boy then, thirteen years old, quietly sitting under his mom's desk in our office and waiting for her to finish working. Definitely beyond boyhood now, Ikoy joined the workshop as photographer-driver and was with us throughout the three school visits at Nazareth School in Lipa, at St. Scholastica's in Malate, and at the Philippine High School for the Arts in Makiling. In between, he happily (I think) helped me out when I had a couple of technical problems. This young man has enough charm to get away with many naughty remarks. Why do I say he was a revelation? Because it is the first time I ever had a real conversation with him and by and large our talks were good ones. I think I am beginning to see him now as Mark - a separate and very fun, very smart individual - not just Ikoy, Beaulah's son. OK, let me be honest. I think I will continue to call him Ikoy, but in my mind, Ikoy the silly, funny, smart intense individual, not Ikoy, Beaulah's eldest.

To summarize our preparations:

a) first we got a speaker; b) then we picked a date and discussed pricing; c) after this we found a venue and finalized pricing and payment schemes;d) finally we sent out letters, e-mail announcements and press releases; e) then we wrote, spoke and called our friends to let them know about the school visits; f) then we put it all together in one big schedule along with the other less-planned stuff such as tours and one interview for a college paper.

Having done all this, we felt we were ready. Sounds simple? It was, sort of. But without the people who helped us along the way, stubbing a toe would have been expected, stumbling a possibility and falling flat on our faces a reality which could have been.

Haayyy! The next installment of this personal report will be on the booktalk. Abangan ang susunod na kabanata! (Wait for the next installment).

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