The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos

My first Filipino Rom-Com Novel!

I have a bunch of books out this year. Since my daughter was born, I have consistently published about 3-5 books a year. Sometimes it’s only 3, some years it has been as high as 7 if you count graphic novels or original audio books. This number seems to confound a lot of people.

OH MY GAWD they say THAT’S CRAZY!!!!!!! YOU MUST WORK SO HARD!!!!!

My daughter is 17 now, so it’s been 17 years of CRAZY!!!!! I guess. I don’t know. I write in kid lit, and some of my series books would publish twice a year. I think when people hear ‘novelist’ they think of Jack Kerouac or Donna Tartt. Writers who only publish a handful of books in their lifetime. I always wanted to grow up to be Enid Blyton who published 500 books in her lifetime. But most people don’t read. Period. So to them writing is mystifying.

I mostly just ignore them. That is the way to live life: ignoring people and their opinions. It’s okay that some people cannot fathom how someone can publish five books a year. I cannot fathom what some people do for a living and not die of boredom.

Anyway! This post is about my new adult rom-com.

THE FIVE STAGES OF COURTING DALISAY RAMOS

Look at the pretty cover!

You can pre-order the book here!

When I had a boring 9-5 job right out of college I was a computer programmer and one of the programmers in our section was this girl who was about my age (I was in my early 20s) who had just moved from the Philippines. She was very demure and sweet and just gorgeous. Super tan, beautiful skin with long dark hair. I guess I had a bit of a girl crush? Meanwhile I had been in America for more than a decade by then and was proudly and loudly American. I lived in the West Village, met up with college friends and was continually making plans with them on the phone. (I even got reprimanded because all I did was talk on the phone and plan what bar we were going to meet at after work. True story lol.)

I was a little fascinated by her and also a little sad for her. Her life seemed to be very quiet and revolve around church. I wondered how she would ever fit in, if she would ever date…I realize I don’t know the end of the story because we didn’t keep in touch. I remember many of my colleagues from my time at Bankers Trust. And if you are reading this, Monica? Was your name Monica? I can see your face but I can’t remember your name anymore, I’m so sorry! Anyway, she kind of inspired me to write this book. Dalisay is not Monica (if her name was Monica). Dalisay is my own creation but it was inspired by knowing someone who just moved to America from the Philippines. The book is about a love story between an American dude and a Filipino girl who just moved to this country. And how he has to win her heart by doing all the five steps of Filipino courtship. (The steps were inspired by stories of my parents’ courtship.) As you can see from the cover, she’s giving him a pretty hard time. Heh.

Anyway, it’s fun and sweet and sexy and I hope you check it out in July of this year!

In other news, Dry January lasted TWO DAYS. As my friend Victoria said, “Dry January is a thing? I missed the memo!”

XOXO

Mel