Blog Over Breakfast Workshop @ Book Latte

Last Saturday, January 20, there was another exciting event for aspiring bloggers by Book Latte and Nile on Weekends, "Blog Over Breakfast." The topics are a continuation of a previous event, Creating Stories. This time, there was an in-depth workshop for beginner bloggers: introducing blogging, identifying your blog's focus and theme, finding your writing voice, creating meaningful content, and networking. For 150 pesos, it was really worth it.

It was a small event with few people, but that is also an advantage since we can all share our plans for blogging and experiences we want to write about. There are some who have blogged before and discontinued them but want to get back to it, while others want to blog so they have a platform where they can share their stories. Some want to write about travel, life as a Filipino expat, and film. We were all from different backgrounds but share a common dream: wanting to share.

Today, it's undeniable that bloggers and social media influencers have an impact. While we talked about possible ways of earning through a blog, money shouldn't be our only sole motivation. I agree, while I'm also thinking of possibilities for this blog, I'd still blog and write even if no one pays me to.

What I like about the workshop are the handy modules and activity sheets that we can use as a reference for blogging. Even if this blog has started since 2015, there are still things to learn. I find the parts about finding your voice, creating interesting blog posts, and designing the blog to be very useful. It also covers everything you need to prepare before launching your blog or changing your blog to be more coherent or unified.

Ms. Cris Antonio also discussed how to create compelling content. She's a great writer and an interesting speaker as well. We also had breakfast food from Book Latte, which is great as usual.

The most interesting part of this workshop is meeting new people who also share the same interests. I was talking to Michael Caesar Tubal and then only realized later that I've bought his zine at the Iloilo Zinefest last August 2017. I've posted a short review of his zine, pa.sa.KAY pa.SA.kay (illustrated by Gil Montinola) before [here's the link to that review]. Gil Montinola also gave me a copy of his upcoming zine, 12.22.38 published by Kasing Kasing Press (thanks to the author and I'll try to review it here once I finish it). The Zinefest was an unforgettable event and I'm glad that I still meet people from there!

Follow Book Latte on their social media profiles to keep up with their next interesting events.

Workshop materials