Bob Ong: Living Off Writing

Bob Ong's proof of life: his 1998 Webby PH Award

I found out too late that Bob Ong, author of the book ABNKKBSNPLAko?! and probably responsible for getting a lot of Pinoys to read, had an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session at Reddit PH. 

It took place on October 26 between 1-3PM, but because of the huge interest, it took him a good 6 hours to answer all the questions posted for him. 

While I didn’t make it on time to personally ask him a question, my favorite queries have to do with what Bob Ong does with his time. He said he fills his days with “hayop at halaman.” So basically it’s a more leisurely, less stressful life in what is probably his middle age years. 

From Bob Ong's Reddit PH AMA

What enables this life? A reader asked this: “At what point in your career did it become self-sufficient just by writing books?” 

Bob Ong said that he doesn’t really need much and lives with just water and a loaf of bread. Of course I understand that’s *not* literal. But because he lives simply, he’s been able to afford his life of “hayop at halaman,” and his peanut butter and bread by the time he published his second book. 

Part of his “proof of life” post was a picture of his Webby Award from 1998, which he got for the “People’s Choice for Weird/Humor.” This means that Bob Ong has been writing for nearly or more than twenty years, since the early days of the internet. Two decades! Wikipedia (not the best source, I know) lists his second book as “Bakit Baligtad Magbasa ng Libro ang mga Pilipino?,” which came out in 2002. This implies that if he went “self-sufficient” *after* the second book, then Bob Ong has been living off his writing by 2003. That’s nearly 15 years of living as a creative person. 

I’m not sure if he’s still working a day job. But he does mention that only his friends and family know of his true identity as Bob Ong. So if he does have co-workers still, then they don’t know they’re breathing the same air as greatness. (Naks!) 

Still interesting is that someone has been going around introducing himself as Bob Ong and then proceeds to ask for discounts and freebies in restaurants. Not cool. But then perhaps expected that someone will try to steal his identity since Bob Ong is famously reclusive and we don’t know what he looks like despite the two decades of his publishing life. 

But still, this is a goal. It’s possible to live off creative work, but then Bob Ong is like the one in a hundred million in the Philippines. You have to be Bob Ong successful to be able to do this. But the real take away for me is that you need to live simply and want not. I’ll be happy with living with “hayop at halaman” for the rest of my days. I think. 

Writing Pop Hits

The name Bonnie McKee might not ring a bell, but these songs will have you humming: "California Gurls," "Last Friday Night" and "Teenage Dream" for Katy Perry and "Hold It Against Me" for Britney Spears. 

She might not be the voice for the songs, but the songs wouldn't exist if she had not written them for some of pop's current leading ladies. It doesn't quite surprise me that McKee wanted to be a pop star herself--her 2004 debut album tanked. As she says in this Hollywood Reporter interview, "My experience in the industry was that you put all this heart and soul into shit and then it never happens." But as they say, lemons to lemonade. She knew music, she could write, and write she did. 

Her turning point was "California Gurls," which I vaguely remember was said to be written as a response to Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind." Katy Perry wanted a West Coast equivalent that was fun and bubbly--and probably something to prove that "I Kissed A Girl" wasn't just a fluke. McKee describes the semi-unreal feeling of hearing the song you wrote on the radio: 

"Well, maybe this will work; maybe it won’t." And then when it came on the radio I was, like, "Wow I did that a couple months ago and I can’t believe it’s actually on the radio and it actually worked!" When that started playing a lot I was just in shock. I couldn’t believe it … I think ‘California Gurls’ is the first one that really showed me that.

It really surprised me that she wrote some of Katy Perry's biggest hits. I had been under the impression that Katy Perry wrote most of her songs. But "Teenage Dream?" Man, that is major:

That’s a title I’d had bouncing around in my head for years that I had been holding onto for myself … So that was tough one to give up. There’s a lot of little Bonnie-isms in "Teenage Dream" that I was hoping to keep for myself. But at that moment I didn’t have hot water, I didn’t have a cell phone, I didn’t have a car. So it was now or never. I’m glad that I did it. 

McKee says "Teenage Dream" is the song she is most proud of having written. And I have to agree. It's the right mix of vulnerability and braveness and oh, youth! That she was hoping to sing it herself, but there were bills to pay. She wouldn't have written it if she weren't poor and desperate. Literally, this is a money for food moment. All we hear is Katy Perry's name and voice and pop sugar outfits, but where would she be if it weren't for the songs, yeah?

I'm also glad that she has not completely given up on her own pop dreams. She is working on her next album. My bet is that she got tons of goodwill from the work she did for others, and now she has another shot at it. She describes her work as something like "what Blondie would sound like in 2013." I would be looking forward to that.