Perhaps Yap’s frequent trips to a library near his college signaled the drastic turn his life would take. While studying nursing, he caught a severe case of the writing bug. Editing the college paper fueled further his journalistic interests, and it wasn’t long until he traded his nursing license for media work.
He was a writer for Sun.Star Horizons, Sun.Star Cebu Weekend Magazine and Sun.Star Cebu Travel section in his neophyte years in the media. After a reportorial job at The Independent Post, he returned to Sun.Star Cebu in 1999 as a feature writer, copy editor and columnist.
Currently, Januar edits Sun.Star Cebu’s Newsplus, Sports, Nation & World sections. He also pens a column, “Meanwhile,” which documents his experiments with writing styles as his mood swings.
Januar has been teaching Literature and Media Communication students at the Cebu Normal University for six semesters now.
In Januar’s 10 years or so in the media, one “a-ha” moment of sticking to the job did not occur to him. “It was gradual, roundabout, meandering, coiling, but in the end you just get the feeling that it’s home,” ponders this Palanca awardee for a Cebuano short story in 2000.