From 6 to 9 in the morning, he and his partner Delamar entertain listeners through music and interesting banter on their show "The Morning Rush."

For regular Manila Bulletin readers, on the other hand, Wednesday is when they get their weekly dose of Chico’s sage words. Whether talking about mothers playing favorites, or teenagers questioning their sexuality, Chico always has a solution wrapped neatly with snappy quips in the advice column "He Says, She Says" that comes out in this section.

However, it is through his blog Strange Fruit that people found out about one little known fact about Chico Garcia, who is Frederick Lagbao in real life: That in 2000, he became a published author, thanks to "Retold Asian Myths," a textbook intended for libraries in the United States, which featured stories from the Philippines, China, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Laos, and Thailand.

The chance to write a book, Chico says, is something that he had always wanted to do even as a young child.

"I remember pounding out silly stories on our ancient typewriter for as long as I could remember. I remember writing the weirdest stories, like the mermaid who was eaten by a shark and the octopus who cried bubbles all day because he had no tentacles," he recalls. "But my favorite was about the indigestible worm. The story traced his journey, once he was swallowed by a bird, from the avian predator’s gullet, to his stomach, to the intestines, and until he emerged unscathed, out the bird’s back door, like a phoenix from the poop pile."

However, he found out soon enough that an active imagination and a desire to have a career in writing do not exactly translate to instant support and warm, fuzzy messages of encouragement from his college advisors.

"I actually tried to pursue writing initially," he says. "My first course in UP was English, majoring in Creative Writing. I asked my adviser what job I’d most likely end up with once I graduate, and she said ‘an English teacher,’ so that sort of scared me away.

So I shifted first to Journalism, where my professors would constantly badger me to quit putting so much undue drama in my police reports. I finally ended up in Broadcasting."

From there, everybody knows the trajectory that Chico’s career had taken. But as he and Delamar enjoy success on the broadcast circuit, little did he know that an opportunity would arise that would give him a chance to pursue his dreams of writing once again.

"I didn’t really choose it," Chico says of the book’s topic. "My aunt who was in the publishing industry told me of a company who was looking for an Asian writer to write part of a series on myths. She said they tried out many writers but they didn’t really fancy anyone up to that point. So I decided to try out by sending some synopses and a full story, and they ended up liking what they read."

The choice of projects may not have been his, but fantasy is a genre that Chico has long been following. He says that Rowling and Tolkien are just two of the writers that he looks up to.

"I love epics and fantasy books," he says. "I like J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, R.L. Stine of Goosebumps, Franklin W. Dixon of The Hardy Boys, etc. I was also a big fan of comic books during my formative writing years, so I love Chris Claremont of the X-Men, John Byrne (who wrote and drew), Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and many other 80’s comics writers."

However, it would still take Chico almost a year before he could actually look at the fruits of his labor.

"It felt like a geological age," Chico says of writing the book. "With all the back and forth between me and the editor - drafts here, drafts there – it probably didn’t take a year, but pretty close to 12 months, I guess. It didn’t help that we didn’t correspond via email, so we did it the old-fashioned way, with me printing out drafts and sending them via snail mail."

This process was especially challenging for Chico, who confesses that writing for him is more of a spontaneous process than one that involves constant editing and re-editing.

"Basically I write as spontaneously as I could, then edit only after I’m done," he says. "The more I plan, and outline, and organize the piece, the lousier it comes out. But if I type as the thoughts flow out, complete with wrong grammar and terrible spelling, the output usually feels more heartfelt."

All the hard work seems to have paid off. A customer review on online retailer Amazon.com hails the book’s "excellent emphasis on vocabulary building" and its ’’outstanding job of providing concrete learning goals and presenting the story as a way to gain greater insight" into cultures and beliefs around Asia.

Good reception aside, the book wasn’t followed by another writing project.

"It was very specific to the series. They did books on African Myths, Native American Myths, etc., so I guess after they completed the series, they didn’t really need a specifically Asian writer anymore," says Chico.

As for pursuing a writing career, Chico says that his own fame has proved to be a double-edged sword when it comes to pursuing this particular dream.

"I really, really hope to do more writing jobs in the future," he says. "It’s just that I don’t have a foot in the door yet, so I have no idea how to go about it. I know, I’m in media and all that, but I’m more considered a radio personality than a writer. If they needed someone to write something, they’d have an ocean of writers to consider first before me."

Chico says that his dream project involves being in some really big shoes.

"I really would love to be in the shoes of J.K. Rowling," he says. "She’s got the best of all worlds. She’s a critic’s darling, and adored by the masses at the same time. She’s accessible to young kids who are reading their first book, and loved by jaded, hard-to-please curmudgeons as well. She’s a good read for those who simply love a good adventure yarn, yet she also satisfies even those who look for more between the lines. Plus, Harry Potter was the last book to make me bawl like a baby! And it doesn’t hurt that she earns gazillions in the process."

While writing projects remain elusive for him at the moment, Chico says that he’s still hoping for the best.

"My future writing projects exist only in my overactive daydreams," he says "But I’m ‘the Secret’-izing my goals, so I’d like to think that it’s not a matter of if, but when. Hopefully, lady luck flashes me (a smile), and squirts some luck in my direction. And someday, I WILL be a real writer."