Cristina A. Montes

BIW Member Interview

Cristina A. Montes is from the Philippines. She works as a Court Attorney at her country’s Supreme Court and loves writing in her spare time.

Moe: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Cristina A. Montes: When I was in grade school, the system for joining after-school clubs was that you list your three choices, and then the teachers and the guidance counsellor will put you in the club they think is best for you. In sixth grade, I wrote the science club as my first choice and the writing club as my second choice. The guidance counsellor then had a talk with me and told me to consider being placed in the writing club instead of the science club. I agreed.

Moe: Describe three lessons you have learned about writing?

Cristina A. Montes:

1. Just keep on writing. Even your worst pieces are worth the effort because they give you a chance to experiment with language. And sometimes, it takes several bad pieces before you come up with a good one.

2. Anything can be a potential subject for a story/poem/article/essay.

3. A writer should observe a lot and read a lot.

Moe: What are you working on now?

Cristina A. Montes: Having written non-fiction and poetry all my life, I’m trying to venture into fiction. I’m taking down notes, making sketches of characters, settings, etc. Hopefully, by the end of this year, I will have enough material to start writing a draft of a novel.

I still write occasional short non-fiction articles whenever I get an idea for an article worth writing. And I might write a few poems this week because it’s Holy Week, and the Holy Week religious devotions always inspire me. I also aim to have a scholarly article published by the end of the year.

Moe: Do you have a favorite writing related book?

Cristina A. Montes: I just bought this book, The Writer’s Workshop by Gregory Roper. The subtitle is “Imitating your way to good writing”. It has writing exercises which encourage you to imitate excerpts from the great books, and in the process develop your own voice.

Moe: What is your favorite writing website?

Cristina A. Montes: I like the Writer’s Digest website.

Moe: Do you have an important BIW tip you’d like to pass along?

Cristina A. Montes: I found that spending the rest of the month planning helps me do the BIW better.