Our story started in 2009, when writers–Ana P. Santos and Nikka Sarthou-Lainez–met at a professional blogging and Internet marketing class and realized that freelance writers had many unique needs that the current landscape was not able to address.
Where do we go to find clients? How do we deal with pricing and competition? Pitching and editors? How can we build a sustainable career as a creative entrepreneur?
While school had taught us the basics of looking for story ideas, drafting news and features, and dealing with the technical realities of our craft, there were many things that we had learned only along the way–things that we felt other writers also needed to know about if they were going to pursue writing as a career.
Our passions and purpose
It is from this desire to share our knowledge and further professionalize the standards of our craft that Writer’s Block Philippines was born.
At Writer’s Block Philippines, we are passionate about words, and even more passionate about the idea that we could make a life (not just a living) doing what we love most.
Nikka had long left the corporate world to combine her two loves–travel and writing; Ana left a lucrative career in banking–foregoing the vice presidency and the designated parking space–to pursue her passion for reporting on women and gender issues and sexual health rights.
On top of our personal pursuits, we at Writer’s Block Philippines, aim to help the local writing community by giving writers an avenue to sharpen their skills and make them effective communicators. Parallel to that, we help companies and organizations achieve their communication objectives by telling their own stories in the most engaging and meaningful ways possible.
Writer’s Block Philippines believes that writing is both art and craft, both creative and methodical, a form of expression and a discipline. Writing itself is only one aspect of “writing”; a culmination of other processes that make it easier for you to write your piece.
So while school will teach you how to write, Writer’s Block will bring all these different processes together and teach you how to be an effective writer.