It's really rewarding and nostalgic when I go through the mess in my drawers and cabinets. All those pieces of paper give me memories to treasure, ideas to cultivate, and works of literature that makes me hug them all like a paper puppy--





Wait, what am I saying?! I'm getting mushy from all this paper. Would somebody get me a shredder?





Whoa, Rai just woke up. Sorry 'bout that rude interval (and that stupid, gayish garbage of a starting phrase, thanks to YoGabba Gabba). Now, back to Rowan style....





As I was saying before I was unceremoniously interrupted ("you deserve it, you idiot, you!"), I went through my bookshelves and drawers in an attempt to search for lost ideas that I had when I was creating variuos write-ups for various stories. And whaddaya know? I found this essay wedged inside my copy of 7 Essentials to Highly Effective Teens. (I might have edited some parts of it to include my wants right now.)





Everybody knows Florence Ryan Rayos, or more known as Rowan Xavier Zurich. Ryan has won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2019 for "exuding an entirely different outlook for fantasy fiction", and his famous works, the "Farrelion: A Legacy" series,"Lycanthropy", "The Reddest Rose", "Deathly Still", and " When Sleighs Break Down" are always bestsellers. He is dubbed as the "Modern Mark Twain" and "Prince of Fantasy Novels". He did all this before he even reached 40.



Ryan was born in February 28, 1993, in Trinidad, Las Pinas, Philippines. His parents are Nestor Florente and Billma Rayos. He is the first-born of the three children. His two sisters are Nessel Cyra and Holly Marie.



Ryan showed signs of maturity even at a young age. He was, according to his parents, a very voracious reader. Ryan was always trying to read his mother's Physical Therapy books. This later contributed to his perfection of speech.



Ryan started school at 3 years old. He was accelerated to prep school, skipping kindergarten. At Grade 4, he transferred schools. He had a lot of trouble in Math. Ryan then went to Atheneum Amcan Academy for high school.



It was here where he met his two co-authors and bestfriends, Kevon and Brandon Hartwig. They helped him become who he is today. They also were the first ones to read the poem "Lunar Wolf". He also met Kiarra Vallido, whom he based Kiarra, one of the protagonists in "Farrellion: A Legacy", on.



After graduation in high school, Ryan had to say goodbye to Kevon and Brandon, because they were going to the US. Ryan enrolled in the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, where he took up BS Development Communication.



In college, he wrote the first book of "Farrellion: A Legacy", "First Formation" . It was, as he said, a grueling feat, as he had to balance schoolwork and writing the novel. Surprised his friends were when he graduated Summa Cumlaude of their batch, and managed to get "Farrellion: A Legacy" published.



After college, he moved to the US and got a job at Fox News as a field reporter. His career as a writer, though, blossomed sooner than his career as a reporter. "First Formation" became a bestseller in the US and the Philippines and was awarded a Palanca.



In the US, he got to meet Miley Ray Cyrus, the famous musical and acting prodigy. The two became very close, and Ryan began to write "The Reddest Rose" for her. He recalls that those periods, the ones when he was writing the book with her, were "the most wonderfully magical and most magically wonderful times of his young life". He also got back with the Hartwig Brothers and created the Hartwig-Rayos Association for the Most Creatively Intelligent People (HRAMCIP).



He realized then that being a writer is what he meant to do. He returned to the Philippines and took a teaching job in Ateneo de Manila University. In this period, he was able to write the second book of "Farrellion: A Legacy", "Farrellian Genealogy".



He was able to finish writing the whole "Farrellion: A Legacy" series in 10 years. By that time, he was 30 and already famous. Scholastic Inc. offered to publish the "Farrellion: A Legacy" series.



He contributes his success to his positive thinking. He claims that he visualized himself like this when he was younger, and embedded the image in himself, believing that it will come true. Well, what do you know? It did!



Well, what do you think? I did this essay in 4th year English class, when Ms. D introduced us to "The Secret" (you might be familiar with the book by Rhonda Byrnes). She wanted us to visualize ourselves in the future and create an autobiography.



It's weird how we can really mold our destiny. Like what Virgil from the movie "Minutemen" said, "we live in a world where every minute can make or break a person's future." Imagine what possibilities can happen...



Anyway, I guess I'll stop here. I gotta brainstorm on my Farrellion novel if I want to finish it in college.



COMING UP IN MY NEXT POST: A pseudo-movie review on "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"!