INTERCONNECTION

Why is there a New Year to celebrate? When did the calendar started? As an ordinary person this might be surreal to change something every time New Year's Day is coming. To some there maybe no change in one's personal life but do what has to be done. But wait! How about if my friend Cornelio tried to make a New Year's Resolution five years ago and that resolution is continuing until now just adding or changing it a little bit or make it better. That year he was wondering what and how he could improve himself other than racing for a yearly salary increase at work although he knows he maybe lucky if he can get a yearly one dollar raise. What he did was to join some writing workshops which were free. After the writing workshops there was no specific details how to get started, what kind of story Cornelio would write and he was not sure who would read his story or none at all and whom to submit. He found himself with a group of writer's on Linkedin then his problem in writing comments were his sentence construction following the strict rules of grammar. A member of the group noticed that he said Cornelio's writing was odd why he is writing simple compound and complex sentences and wrote them in paragraph form. It was hard for Cornelio to keep his writing when that was the comments he received from his group. He went through his manuscript and diligently scrutinize the crux of the matter. What makes his writing so odd that no one would even like to read. Cornelio didn't lose hope but he joined other groups of writers to see if they had the same impression. As far as Cornelio wrote , the more he expressed himself, just writing what he had in mind he was able to overcome not to be a writer. To become a writer put away all rules but expressed yourself originally, just write what is in your mind. At this time no one had those comments anymore although no one told him that he had changed his writing style. He thought a writer was always a writer because her sister told her she could not write a story at all. Cornelio remembered that someone said," You can be a writer if you can let the leaves of the trees dance or make the sunshine smile at you" This maybe true when Cornelio changed his direction of writing. It was writing for children instead of adults Yes writing for children might be his genre that he used the internet to surf where to submit his story. All doors were closed to him because publisher's closed their doors to publish his book unless he paid them. How could he publish his book as a new writer? How come he has to pay a big amount and how can he recoup that if his book will not be sold in the market? That was really impractical for him to do . Will he

continue his writing or not? That day Cornelio scratched his head at the point when his wits seem to surrender, why it was the third year and nothing comes up with his writing. Using the internet again he crashed into the door of self publishing through Amazon. Yes Amazon , making money by self publishing. was that a change? To publish his children's book without paying the publisher. It was free. To publish a children's book Cornelio needed an illustrator. That was another dilemma for him , how much will he pay to illustrate his picture book? Poor Cornelio! Will he publish or not? He surfed the internet again and found a publisher to published his book on Amazon and provided an illustrator. His book was then on Amazon. The publisher asked for fees to let his book included on book fairs and signing events , to be listed in libraries. Cornelio counted on that publisher ended up that he was duped. Did he stopped writing" He didn't. Although it was the fourth year he wrote another children's book, at this time he did all by himself, from submitting his manuscript to Amazon and hiring an illustrator and his book can be found on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This was an accomplishment for Cornelio to be registered as an author publisher required by Amazon. On his fifth year of writing he received an invitation from the local theater to be a member of the Producer's Circle. How did the producer know Cornelio? He was wondering why he have to be in the producer's circle when he don't have any training or experience in the performing arts? What he knew , he was invited to watched the free shows , trainings and he could even apply for a grant. He asked the producer if he could apply to that grant where he asked if they could make his children's book to become a movie because his book is about a legend and the location setting was right where Cornelio lived. The producer said it is only those artist in performing arts. For trainings Cornelio was not in that category because of his age but someone told him he could be given an extra role in which he put off in his mind. To be recognize in that group he could become an usher? The more Cornelio refused, he maybe groping in the dark for fear he may fall stepping down on the stairs. This year why did the producer insist him to be within the Producer's Circle? Before the Covid 19 there were Zoom meetings that he attended with the producer with movie producers as their guest that Cornelio mentioned about his book and expressed his desire to produced it as a movie. This zoom meetings were interrupted when Covid 19 stopped all kinds of activities even these zoom meeting that were held. Cornelio wasn"t sure why this year the producer invited him again to be in his circle. Without any hesitation Cornelio accepted the invitation to be in the theater every opening of the show and welcome guests at the reception. Not only that he could give free tickets to his friends to come to the theater to watch the shows. In Cornelio's mind he plans to remind the producer about his book to become a movie. That dream may come true in its appointed time as long as Cornelio is within the producer's circle. When the zoom meetings of performing arts and movie producers will meet again maybe Cornelio will remind them of his children's book, who knows if it will happen this coming year 2024. Who knows if a movie producer will like his book because it will have a great impact to the community economically, for the location alone there will be a possibility to become a tourist spot. The movie itself if it becomes a sensation , the whole world will watch and how much royalties will Cornelio receives? Who knows the coming year is for Cornelio's writing to be fantastically successful beginning from small dreams into big dreams and it will benefit the community.