Manila Bulletin - Behind the Scenes: Patty Laurel Filart

This is Patty Laurel, also known as the new Mrs. Patrick Filart. She loves her status as a married woman so much, which really brought me back to my own honeymoon days almost 6 years ago. Yes, interviewing Patty was such a joy!

The column was initially about her wedding and her life as a new bride. But a few days before my deadline, I found out that Patty was auctioning off her bridal gown to benefit the victims of the devastating Typhoon Pablo. I had already written the column. It was done! But as a former editor, I knew that while Patty's love story is wonderful, her generosity is the bigger story.

That's a tip for you, writers: Learn to recognize the worth of a story. If a better topic comes along, change your story! It always hurts to see all that work go unpublished but you want to be the one who'd tell the great story. In this case, Patty's sacrifice for a good cause.

So I quickly asked her additional questions (and thankfully, Patty responded quickly!), rewrote the whole thing, and submitted it just before deadline.

Actually, my editor Liza Ilarde-Cuenca said my column didn't make the deadline but I begged her and told her the urgency of the story. I'm so happy she found space!

Please grab today's Manila Bulletin. You can also read my column here.