November 11, 2015, 3:56a.m. – A UST alumna’s new book tackles the value of finding adventures in the simple moments of life.
“Planet Panic: Notes from the Queen of Procrastination,” compiles stories drawn from the experiences of journalism alumna Pam Pastor, such as her grandmother burning her childhood troll doll, misadventures with her little brother, and an encounter with a New York socialite.
Pastor said in the book’s launching last Nov. 7 that Planet Panic was “a nod to how crazy life gets.”
“It’s also a reminder to find adventures in the madness and to take pleasure in the strange,” she said. “The stories I tell in the book are snippets from my life. They’re memorable for different reasons—because they were funny, strange, sad, interesting, or they taught me lessons.”
Pastor said the book, her second title, reflected a shift in her views on writing and publishing since her first book “Paper Cuts.”
“I’ve been getting messages from people who say they read the book when they commute. I get messages from people who say it gives them a break from work, whether they read a chapter or two at night,” she said.
Writers need to experience life to be able to write, she added. “People say that the writer’s life is lonely. It’s not. You need to live in order to have something to write,” she said.
Pastor, an editor at the “Super” section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Faculty of Arts and Letters. Cedric Allen P. Sta. Cruz
