Fil-Am writer Margarita Bruce: Finding joy in life’s many possibilities

Margarita Tayone Bruce  came to the US in 1993 and was fascinated by the tech-operated doors she had never seen in Cebu City where she grew up. As a new immigrant, she would go to a bank, grocery stores, any building and watched as the sliding glass doors opened without her touching them.

Her initiation into American life may have started with automatic doors but now 30 years later, portals of opportunities have opened for her. Margie, 50,  is now an accountant, a non-profit officer, a mother of three boys, and the author of six self-published books.

She married Tom Bruce, then a TV engineer in Milwaukee. They met as  pen pals in an Asian magazine. She was 19; he was 35.

“I was a freshman in college and this was before computers. Initially it was all for fun,” she said when interviewed by The FilAm.

“I thought to myself, this seems farfetched. What are the chances that somebody would  see my picture and profile in the magazine and write me.”  

Several months after her profile went live,  she received a warm and friendly letter from Tom. 

“We wrote each a other a lot for a year with two phone calls and one video  tape message from each other. At that time we did not have a phone in our house so I had to go to a relative’s house to receive the call,” she said. “We  were serious. Six months into our writing we were exclusive. We really got to know each other through these letters. I was upfront about what I want and don’t want.”

The courtship lasted for a year and on her 19th birthday, Tom went to the Philippines and they got engaged.  

“I just had faith in him and he came across as an honorable person and of course  handsome,” she burst into giggles. 

When her parents found out, their only condition was that Margie finish her education. She earned an accounting degree from Marquette University which accredited her Philippine courses. As a scholar, she also took creative writing courses.  

She said, “The hardest  part of being a new immigrant probably  was adjusting to school and being a new bride at 19 at the same time. I also missed Filipino  food, the weather and my family.” 

Life in the university was a “shock.”

“The learning pace was  faster, and the casual friendliness between professors and students was more than I was used  to. I noticed most of the students are single  and prefer to study on their own, not in groups like I was used to in the Philippines.” 

Soon she was able to assimilate into the culture and credits it to “resiliency and adaptability” as   Filipino traits.  

Independent author

Margie has published six books — five fiction and one poetry. She released her first  book in 2002, an experimental women’s fiction, “A String of Pearls.” Her collection of poetry, “Cascading Sonnets”, is her sixth and latest book. It was published in 2022.

“The Fiancée,” her fifth book, almost autobiographical in tone and intent, is closest to her heart.

“The Fiancée”  is a story about the “common experiences of Filipinas who come to this country as fiancées, or as wives – adjusting to an unfamiliar environment, not knowing anyone except perhaps, the person who brought them here; craving Filipino food, longing to meet and be with other Filipinos, and dealing with homesickness. The book also touches on the sense of financial duty and responsibility that Filipino children have toward their families back in the Philippines, and the tendency of Filipinos here to find a match for someone they know back home. It is the untold love stories between Filipino women and American men, and the basic struggles of these Filipina immigrants that inspired me to write this book,” she said.  

In the works is another fiction book coming out by summer. It is a young adult-new adult romantic sub-genre loosely based on Margie’s high school life.  

“I have been watching Korean and Chinese TV drama series to blame for this, especially the ones about first love and high school,” she said by way of a joke.

What inspires her?

Story ideas are always “dancing in my head,” she said, “waiting to be fleshed out into a book.”

Eldest child

Margie is the eldest and only girl  in a family of seven siblings. They are a large close-knit family of 21 here in the US.  

“In the Philippines, we had this saying of ‘Watch out when you invite the Tayone family to a party. They’re an entire village!’ That is now the case here in America.” 

As if being a full time accountant and a writer  is not enough  she is also a YouTuber, the vice president of operations and educational director of Global 1nspiration, a non-profit that provides assistance to human trafficking and domestic abuse victims both in the US and in the Philippines. 

She is also active with Filipino-American community organizations in Wisconsin,  such as the Free Medical Clinic offered by the Philippine Cultural and Civic Center Foundation, as a volunteer.

If time was on her side, she would like to spend some time in the Philippines and write for several weeks “without work distractions.”   

Married for 30 years, Margie is a  self-confessed homebody who is happy being a doting mom to Connor, 23, Collin, 20, and Tommy, 15.  Her reading fare are classical novels by Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy and Alexander Dumas.  She used to be big on crafts when she was younger; volunteering  now gives her a sense of accomplishment.  She and Tom, now retired, find their “us” time no matter how busy they are.

Her advice to aspiring writers? 

“Believing in one’s self is the most important. You should believe in yourself even if no one believes in you,” she said. —The FilAm