These questions were given to me by a Mass Communication student, who also happens to be a blogger.
1. Why do you blog? I blog because I have so many photos to share and so many stories to tell which I felt that many people may not have had the opportunity to experience
2. What do you usually write about in your posts?
3. Where do you get inspiration from?
I write about many things but these also have developed through the years
I also found my old photos about Zamboanga going back to the 1990s which I want to share, which I also reblogged in IN PINAY’S CIUDAD
Then I made a second blog entitled IN PINAY’S EYES in August 2011. This is photoblog on how I see life … on things around me… on inspirations, realities and advocacies.
My original intention for this blog is to be an inspiration as I share some photos. I wanted to post a photo and make an inspiring message related to each photo.
I write about many things but these also have developed through the years
I started with IN PINAY’S FOOTSTEPS in January 2011. My original intention is to share my stories. This is my personal blog / travel blog about places I’ve been to in the Philippines and
outside the country including hotels and food and interesting places.
I also share about topics related to travel like baggage allowance and type of luggage and some tips on traveling.
There are events which I found interesting that I also blog about.
I was going through my old albums and found many old photos going way back 1987 for my experience with the
Friendship Programme for the 21st
Century (10 blogposts)I also found my old photos about Zamboanga going back to the 1990s which I want to share, which I also reblogged in IN PINAY’S CIUDAD
Then I made a second blog entitled IN PINAY’S EYES in August 2011. This is photoblog on how I see life … on things around me… on inspirations, realities and advocacies.
My original intention for this blog is to be an inspiration as I share some photos. I wanted to post a photo and make an inspiring message related to each photo.
Last February 2012, I started IN PINAY’S TUMMY.
The objective was just sharing about these eating places, photos about place and food and
not as food critic since I have no credentials to be critical about food.
Still, this is a food blog on restaurants where I ate whether here or abroad and on native
delicacies
Right after the Zamboanga City Siege, I was inspired to start a new blog, IN PINAY’S CIUDAD in October 2013.
I realized I had so many stories about Zamboanga City in IN PINAY’S
FOOTSTEPS and so I decided to reblog the stories and moved them to IN PINAY’S
CIUDAD.
My objective was: If I wanted to share to friends and acquaintances about
Zamboanga City, it would be easier to share if the stories are in one blog.
As a background: In IN PINAY’s FOOTSTEPS January 2013, one person (John from
Singapore who I haven’t met) commented, “Keep blogging… really enjoy your
posts… You are probably the best blogger who covers Zamboanga in the whole
Internet universe”. This was one of the main inspirations to go on.
I have so many photos about “Mi Ciudad”, Zamboanga City from the 1990s to the present and so I have several blogposts with
comparative photos
I also have many stories related to the Zamboanga Siege 2013 related to the hospital
setting
The, I was sharing about Ciudad Medical Zamboanga and the many activities within the hospital
Then, we had developed several Hospital advocacies especially on Patient Safety and on Breast
Cancer Awareness through the CMZ BRA (Bra to Raise Awareness) Campaign Project
and the CMZ BRAngay Project and most of our activities were documented in this blog..
4. I’ve been to your blog and noticed that the earliest post dates back to
2011, about five years ago. What inspired you to create a blog back then?
My colleague (CMZ’s Finance officer) encouraged me to blog. She had been a blogger since 2009 and had been enjoying this.
At that time, I wanted to try blogging but I wanted to remain anonymous. I didn’t want people to know I was the writer. I didn’t want people especially from Zamboanga to know these are my thoughts,
However, through the months, I realized if I wanted to blog well, I have to write from the heart and so I opened up in my blog my real thoughts as myself. I no longer minded that they know it is me who is writing.
My colleague (CMZ’s Finance officer) encouraged me to blog. She had been a blogger since 2009 and had been enjoying this.
At that time, I wanted to try blogging but I wanted to remain anonymous. I didn’t want people to know I was the writer. I didn’t want people especially from Zamboanga to know these are my thoughts,
However, through the months, I realized if I wanted to blog well, I have to write from the heart and so I opened up in my blog my real thoughts as myself. I no longer minded that they know it is me who is writing.
5. What is it like to be a Zamboangueña blogger?
6. What are the difficulties, if there are any, of being a blogger from
Zamboanga?
In 2013, I was awarded the Mindanao Blog Awards “Zamboanga Blogger of the Year Award” and with Best Blogpost on “Aerial Views of Zamboanga City circa 2005”. I have no idea how I won.
I have not attended any Zamboanga Bloggers meeting but I think there were a few times to meet up and I wasn’t available. I am not sure if there was a formal meeting, though. We meet only through the site. So basically as of now, a Zamboanga blogger writes because we love to write but we are not yet strong as an organization.
As of now, I have to be content that I love to write and share and I should not be concerned if I will be appreciated in Zamboanga City.
For the stories to be read, I post the URL of the blogpost to my Facebook so my friends can read my stories .
I also write about different things, topics, experiences and this is because I am way older than most bloggers. Many of the young Zamboanga bloggers are fashion and beauty bloggers.
One difficulty is to sustain writing. I so much want to write but since we have so many hospital activities which I want to blog about but don’t have the time to do so.
In 2013, I was awarded the Mindanao Blog Awards “Zamboanga Blogger of the Year Award” and with Best Blogpost on “Aerial Views of Zamboanga City circa 2005”. I have no idea how I won.
I have not attended any Zamboanga Bloggers meeting but I think there were a few times to meet up and I wasn’t available. I am not sure if there was a formal meeting, though. We meet only through the site. So basically as of now, a Zamboanga blogger writes because we love to write but we are not yet strong as an organization.
As of now, I have to be content that I love to write and share and I should not be concerned if I will be appreciated in Zamboanga City.
For the stories to be read, I post the URL of the blogpost to my Facebook so my friends can read my stories .
I also write about different things, topics, experiences and this is because I am way older than most bloggers. Many of the young Zamboanga bloggers are fashion and beauty bloggers.
One difficulty is to sustain writing. I so much want to write but since we have so many hospital activities which I want to blog about but don’t have the time to do so.
7. What would you like to say to aspiring or new bloggers out there who want to
have a relationship with blogging as long as you have, and the way that you do?
I would like to say, “If you have stories to tell, please share them through blogging”.
It is so interesting to find out what we have written several years ago and we can see how we have developed through the years. I used to write very long blog posts and I realized I should make several shorter ones.
8. How has blogging helped me?
It has helped me in Ciudad Medical Zamboanga’s advocacies.
Since I blog all the activities related to my advocacy program, I can go back to these blogs as data and as documentation and just like a diary.
When I applied for the Hospital Management Asia 2015 Awards for the CMZ BRA (Bra to Raise Awareness) Campaign Project, my supporting documents mostly came from the blog and we were awarded in Myanmar.
When I applied for the 51st Anvil Awards of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines also for the CMZ BRA (Bra to Raise Awareness) Campaign Project, my blog is also the source of the supporting documents. I believe the documentation from the blog (also has counterpart Media Value and PR value) strongly helped in us winning the Anvil Award for Corporate Social Responsibility, which we will receive today, February 26 at the Makati Shangrila.
In general, Blogging is a de-stressing activity for me.
And deep inside, I hope that I have also helped others through my blogs... for information... and as an inspiration!
I hope you might want to consider BLOGGING, too!
I would like to say, “If you have stories to tell, please share them through blogging”.
It is so interesting to find out what we have written several years ago and we can see how we have developed through the years. I used to write very long blog posts and I realized I should make several shorter ones.
8. How has blogging helped me?
It has helped me in Ciudad Medical Zamboanga’s advocacies.
Since I blog all the activities related to my advocacy program, I can go back to these blogs as data and as documentation and just like a diary.
When I applied for the Hospital Management Asia 2015 Awards for the CMZ BRA (Bra to Raise Awareness) Campaign Project, my supporting documents mostly came from the blog and we were awarded in Myanmar.
When I applied for the 51st Anvil Awards of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines also for the CMZ BRA (Bra to Raise Awareness) Campaign Project, my blog is also the source of the supporting documents. I believe the documentation from the blog (also has counterpart Media Value and PR value) strongly helped in us winning the Anvil Award for Corporate Social Responsibility, which we will receive today, February 26 at the Makati Shangrila.
In general, Blogging is a de-stressing activity for me.
And deep inside, I hope that I have also helped others through my blogs... for information... and as an inspiration!
I hope you might want to consider BLOGGING, too!
