Lia Golledge's Blog, page 8

La Journée de la Femme Digitale 2014

Palais Brongniart was forbidden for women until the late 50s. Naturally, it was the perfect place to celebrate International Women’s Day 2014 #IWD. So, Catherine @cathbarba & Delphine @DelphineRB decided to use the venue, also known as Place de la Bourse (The historical Paris Stock Exchange), for their La Journée de la Femme Digitale 2014 Conference #JFD on March 7th, 2014.

I met Cath on my US trip with 28 entrepreneurs from around the globe - IVLP: A New Beginning program. It didn’t take long for us to understand, despite of our different background, we share the same vision, specifically in women and entrepreneurship.

I believe women should step up, and willing to explore technology and use it as the catalyst of their success. I wrote a book, Girls & Tech, to show women in Indonesia about my journey building my career, from being a web developer to tech entrepreneur, also highlight some Indonesian Women who work in technology as role models. Cath loves my story, and recommends US Embassy France to invite me as a delegate to attend her conference. Gros bisous pour vous

The event theme was ‘Change the Future’. I believe to change the future, we need to change our mindset.

I live in Indonesia, a country with only 25% internet penetration, less than 2% credit card users, and the slowest internet connection in Asia Pacific, it was a crazy decision to start a tech startup. There are always excuses of why it shouldn’t be done, why I shouldn’t start a business. The datas and statistics are not there to support. But as entrepreneurs said, 101 problems also mean 101 opportunities.

Every time I talked to people, they would categorized my company NulisBuku.com as a social enterprise. We do helped aspiring writers in Indonesia to have a new channel to self-published and distribute their books, this kind of service was not there yet when we arrived. But it’s hard for me to see myself as a ‘social entrepreneurs’. I’d like to be called just: entrepreneur. Entrepreneur was there to solve problems. And with the kind of problems that we have in my country, we can’t afford not to build a high impact ‘social enterprise’.

I’ve been actively organizing events and workshops in entrepreneurship with StartupLokal community, talk about women issues and empowerment with technology through Girls in Tech Indonesia, remind young people in Indonesia about the power of words through NulisBuku.com and Traveling Words writing retreat, and I believe this energy to share is not because of I’m different, but because I’m a woman.

Yes, ladies, you have the amazing trait to share the love. Why don’t you start to find what soften your heart and let it shine?

Special, special thanks for my friends Arnaud Chiaramonti & Catherine Barba Chiaramonti. They are truly the best couple, my inspiration and they gave me hope of a tender and empowering love. Bisous!   

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People are curious about The Traveling Words. Honestly, we were also curious on how The Traveling Words going to manifest.

When Hanny & I first talked about this initiative, we found out that writing has helped us to overcome some challenges in our life that eventually grow us to become a better person. And we want other people to realize the potential and start exploring their life through writing. The question is: how?

Finally last weekend we got the answer. It was such a pleasure for us to host our first Traveling Words retreat with a group of content writers. They’re already expert in writing, I’m sure. So, we want to let them see the other side of writing.

We started by asking them to write with honesty. Writing that grows, means nothing without it. We want to craft words that touch heart, not only yours, but also touching the heart of so many people that might be in your situation right now. It shouldn’t be merely an exchange of information and datas. Your writing should move people, change people, bring emotion out of people.

Traveling could mean many things. Not only to pack your bag and go somewhere exotic. But also when you start to really see, being aware, find magic in every little thing, even when it’s just around your neighborhood, even when it’s just you looking into yourself.

“What did you learn from life?” I checked one of participants’ notebook, she wrote, “That happiness comes within myself.”

We might never truly realize it, until we see it on paper, until we read it out loud, until we write.

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Rock & Roll Awareness

Sometimes awareness come to our mind after we experience a hardship in life.

I heard the term ‘Rock & Roll Awareness’ the first time on Komunitas 1111 meetup. We were talking about Awareness and one of our friends, Pitta, who just lost her dad to lung cancer 2 months ago, share about the last days of his dad.

In her leather jacket, she told the story in cheerful way, no tears or shaky voice. It’s a solid form of Ikhlas. This, is what Rock & Roll Awareness look like.

The idea of spirituality at first has come to my life around 3 years ago. Some of you have known what kind of life catastrophe that had happened then, and it altered my life completely. I grow into a completely different person physically, mentally, and spiritually. I guess I’m still myself, just a better person.

But I have yet to embrace the idea until recently. I started by sharing my spiritual experiences on my tumblr and now, in the beginning of 2014, I feel the need to show more of my spiritual side on this main blog.

While being spiritual doesn’t mean you’re religious, there’s no specific meaning that I hold on to. For me, being spiritual means, you’re curious to know what’s the meaning of your life, what you came here for.

From my experience meeting like-minded friends all over the world, I see that spirituality came in different form.

I met people who aware that they’re constantly being shown a specific set of number (including me, I got ‘followed’ by 1111 and 114) and started to feel encouraged in the signs of the number. There are people who are spiritual through their mind and physcial activities like through yoga and meditation. There are people who have chosen their gurus but there are also people like me, who felt that every people they met are their gurus.

Writing, to me is a form of meditation. So I can reflect on my days, being aware of what’s happened in my life, instead of just let it pass. I can certainly learn from my mistakes so I won’t do that again in the future. I’m preparing a memoir from this thankfully and carefully collected journal from the past.

I believe, we are given a set of skills and passion to help support the cause that come with us when we were born. It’s important to have an understanding of what matters to you, does not mean it matters to other people. You can’t force your cause.

All you can do is giving the right example. Show your love and passion of what you do to the world, and let people see, inspired, learn and connect with you when they have the same calling.

May The Light guides you to the right path. The path that is easier. The path that is fun. The path that is full of love.

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The 2014 Dreams

Before I start: No, it’s not my son in the pic, it’s my nephew

It’s 11pm and I tried to type as fast as I could so I can post this before 2014 :))

I usually post my New Year’s Resolutions earlier, but this year I decide to read and gain insights, as much as I could, before writing anything.

Let’s look back to 2013 for a second. Here are what went well:

I was invited by Ford to attend NAIAS 2013 in Detroit. It was my first time to US and I got my 5 years tourist visa, which is awesome. I got to meet my friend HiMY and we can visit Islamic Center of America in Dearborn
I went to Bahrain invited by Discover Bahrain to learn more about their country in 9 days, and also invited by Discover Islam to speak at their forum. It was such a memorable trip because it’s my first gulf country to experience, I have so much new and meaningful friendships, not only with the local Bahraini and fellow delegates, but also Indonesian friends who stayed in Bahrain.
Ministry of Communication and Information Republic of Indonesia awarded me Kartini Next Generation Award 2013 as Inspiring woman in ICT. Since then, with them, I’ve been visiting cities in Indonesia to speak about technology to the youth
Invited to speak in Brunei for ASEAN Youth Entrepreneurs, this is my second time to Brunei and I still enjoy my time visiting their wonderful Masjids and also meet new friends (and fans who told me she loves my instagram :D)
Backpacking to Egypt , 9 days, to 4 cities: Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and Alexandria had been an amazing experience for me. Egypt is beyond my wildest imagination. The Pyramid, Nile River, Al-Azhar Mosque, Karnak Temple, sunset in Alexandria… the memories will stay forever in my mind. It was such a precious time with my Muslimah Backpacker friends and I truly value the friendship we had.
Witnessing the true beauty of Istanbul on my birthday. I love love the city, breathtaking views of Bosphorus, the extraordinary Mosques, learn Islamic history, Sufi and spirituality, delicious food… I would love to go back, maybe to stay and write a novel then visit the land of Rumi: Konya.
If I should picked one highlight of 2013, then My 3 weeks IVLP: A New Beginning 2013 trip to US, invited by US State Department, along with fellow entrepreneurs from 28 different countries around the world, would be the most life changing moment this year. We spent our days with workshops, networking events, hospitality dinners, and simply getting to know American culture in Washington DC, Portland, Dallas and New York. I learned so much more in this trip, especially about my own self.
Speaking for Makassar Writers Festival 2013, held the second year of Tulis Nusantara 2013 going to 12 cities around Indonesia to promote writing, launching my new book ‘Girls & Tech’ and launching a new project The Traveling Words with Hanny, are some of my books and writing accomplishment this year.
This month alone, December 2013 I finished writing 2 books and send out the first draft to editor. Hopefully the books will be out in the early 2014.

What not went well:

From mid 2013, after my birthday to be exact, I started to feel lost for no specific reason. Now, after a lot of self evaluation and analyzing what’s been happening, by writing ALL my feelings down for 6 months, I think I have started to understand the root of it. Once I find the problem, I’m pretty sure I can, if not already, find the solution
I need to accelerate my businesses, I truly need some mentors and investors to help me, haven’t find one in 2013. Maybe because I’m not focusing myself in that direction yet
I have learn one or two things about crushing my own ego this year, it was not a pleasant experience, but I learned a lot from that situation
I have learned to let go of the ideal in my head and expectations

And last but not least, my hope and dreams, my New Year’s Resolutions for 2014:

Find the love of my life and build a family
Build a community center for readers and writers
Tap the global market including partnerships for my tech businesses
Get mentors and investors for my businesses
Write a novel
Start guiding people to use writing as a form of self-expression through Traveling Words workshops

After spending my time writing, talking to people in private setting, reading some articles and (A LOT OF) books, I found a conclusion.

This is going to be my mantra for 2014:

The right love, enrich me. The right love, inspire me. The right love, bring out the best in me.

Happy New Year 2014, friends!

 

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Tales on Mother’s Day

“How come there’s no Auntie’s Day?”

That’s what I asked this morning to embrace Mother’s Day. I’m not married and I don’t have kids. My only way to show my motherly love is to shower my baby nephew, or other people kids, with presents. I’m the sweet Auntie O.

I have another technique to pour my love: having ‘kids’ of my own by sending children back to school.

Now, if you live in Brunei and Bahrain, you’re lucky. The government will send you to study up until Bachelor degree. In Indonesia, kids who can’t afford education, just won’t continue their study and work in the lower level jobs, earning lower level income.

The cycle of poverty only could be stop by education. Children must go to school.

It is lucky that I got chance to contribute to this cause, as education is one of my concerns. And I grew close and closer to 2 of my kids from SMK Itaco. They’re smart and active kids, Milang and Ana.

I visit their houses today in Bekasi, showing my support so that they can continue do their best at school and graduate, to make their dreams come true.

Both their mom have passed away, so they have to start taking care of the family in such a young age. They have a lot of sadness inside. Their teacher, Susi @suzieicus and I, can only stay and be there for them as much as we could, by God’s support.

All of us experience one thing that change our life forever. It is for us to decide whether it’s going to change us for the better or for the worst.

Like the patience that Athirah, Jusuf Kalla’s mother, had when she knows her husband was getting married to a new wife. Their father decision has change the entire family, including Jusuf Kalla (Indonesia’s successful entrepreneur and former Vice President) himself. It is by then, the true meaning of patience was completely absorbed.

Congratulations for the ‘Athirah’ book launch, Pak JK and Mbak Alberthiene Endah! I started reading it and I can’t stop. Just like this gentleman.

I asked Pak JK and AE to sign the book for my mom. Her tremendous dedication to family is unbeatable by anything I have done in this lifetime. So, thank you mom. Thank you for letting me do whatever I want. Giving me the freedom to choose my happiness.

Happy Mother’s Day to all women in Indonesia!
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Girls & Tech Book Launch

“I think I have picked the wrong subject (in university), I’m not good with IT.”

I’ve heard this complaint a lot of time, often from girls. This is not about the subject, it’s all about mindset. We all know that IT industry is overwhelmingly filled with men. When girls see that, they immediately label IT as ‘made for men’ and difficult. Some of the girls never wanted to have anything to do with technology because of this perspective.

I spend my teenage years knowing what I wanted to do: building websites. This idea came naturally after spending most of my time interacting with people on the internet and see how good their websites are.

To be able to build website properly, I sign up at IT major and wish to learn about it all years long. Turned out, they only put lessons on web building in 1 semester. The rest of classes were hard, boring and torturing me. I must learn math (I hate math), and other programming languages that I don’t need (like machine language).

But my university years taught me something else: to be able to hangout with geeks :))

Most of my friends are super smart men. They could be intimidating when you don’t know them, or even when you know them. They know any textbook by heart. They would code flawlessly. But all the years I spend interacting with them was really useful to build my confidence and courage to ask what I don’t understand. Now, when I have to attend events on technology and there’s no other women around, I can still pretty much at ease, because I’ve been in this position for years before.

Women would do things differently. Women have special traits that men don’t have. We are a natural multi-tasker, we have bigger empathy to think about other people’s well-being (especially for our team), technology will help women to find solution for problems in community (I create NulisBuku.com with my partners to help aspiring writers to self-published their book easily), we’re more creative and we code differently too. This is all our strength, that when combined with technology can produce a high impact technology-based products that will benefit the economy of wider community, and of course will accelerate our success.

To be able to promote the use of technology for success to young girls, I wrote ‘Girls & Tech’ book that just launched 27 November 2013 at Ciputra-GEPI Incubator.

I invited my friends Alexis Brille from VA&CO, Anantya van Bronckhorst from Think.Web & Initiator Girls in Tech Indonesia, Susi Sukaesih from SiswaWirausaha.com to share to the audience that you could be young (Alexis graduate from Master of Computer Science when she was 20), you could be not from IT industry (Anantya and Susi were not coming from IT background), but you can be successful in IT industry if you keep your mind open, be curious and be a passionate learner at all time. I also highlight some more role models in my book to inspire you and some useful tips that you can use if you plan to be involve or stay in IT industry.

I got some feedback about ‘Girls & Tech’ from my readers, most of them that already taking IT major now feeling they have picked the right subject. They can see the big picture. And those who are not in IT, they’re now can see IT from different perspective, it’s not as scary and complicated as it looks, and they’re ready to use technology as the catalyst of their success.

Here are some testimonials from wonderful and powerful women:

Ollie is one of the hardest working Girl in Tech in Indonesia. I knew her from her day in winning one of the 2009 Bubu Awards categories. Proudly to say, she successfully pushed herself to become a noted player in the digital industry.

Her book is a reflection of her journey in the making of a successful Woman Tech Entrepreneur. A big Congratulation to Ollie for making a mark in the digital industry in Indonesia.

-Shinta Dhanuwardoyo, Founder of Bubu.com

“Belajar Hal Baru”, salah satu judul tulisan dalam buku Ollie ini menggambarkan reaksi saya setelah membaca sepenuhnya draf buku ini. Wow, saya kenal Ollie cukup lama via Twitter dan bertemu dalam beragam kesempatan, mengikuti kiprahnya dari lokal mendunia, tapi saya benar-benar baru mengenal perempuan inovatif dan kreatif ini setelah membaca Girls & Tech. You are an awesome person, Ollie. Kita sering dengar kata bijak, “buku adalah jembatan ke dunia luas.” Ollie memberikan relevansi atas “teknologi adalah jembatan mengarungi dunia, dan perempuan akan mengambil manfaat terbesar dari penguasaan teknologi.” Perjalanan hidup Ollie adalah wujud nyata dari obsesi para CEO dunia, perempuan khususnya, yang ingin seluas mungkin memberikan kesempatan studi STEM (science, technology, engineering and mechanical)bagi perempuan. Ollie pas menjadi “ambassador” untuk upaya itu. Ini buku wajib dibaca bagi semua perempuan di semua usia, dan wajib dikagumi oleh kaum pria.

-Zulfiani Lubis @UniLubis, Pemimpin Redaksi ANTV

Ollie selalu penuh ide, imajinasi, dan karya. Namun lebih dari itu, yang membuat Ollie istimewa adalah semangatnya untuk berbagi. Buku ini adalah salah satu dari sekian banyak bukti nyata akan semangat tersebut. Sesuatu yang benar-benar pantas untuk diapresiasi dan diteladani oleh generasi muda Indonesia. Membaca Girls & Tech itu seperti menghabiskan satu petang bersama Ollie: It’s fun, it’s fearless, it’s loaded with inspiration and practical tips!

-Sati Rasuanto, Managing Director, Endeavor Indonesia

Sudah saatnya semakin banyak wanita berkenalan dan bermain dalam dunia yang lekat dengan teknologi. Being curious, berkenalan dengan teknologi secara dini via game, dan selalu mempelajari hal baru. Ollie memaparkan alasan yang tepat sekaligus menghadirkan contoh nyata dalam sosok-sosok wanita yang menginspirasi di bidang teknologi. The world is truly a better place when you know how to use & make friends with technology.

-Anantya Van Bronckhorst, Executive Director of Think.Web

If you want to share anything about your journey to use technology, please use #GirlStartIT hashtag on twitter

Check my Pinterest to see who’s already read ‘Girls & Tech’ – if you want me to upload your pic with ‘Girls &  Tech’, please mention me on twitter @salsabeela with your picture

Check my SoundCloud to listen to me talking about one of chapter in ‘Girls & Tech’ > on being productive

If you haven’t read my book ‘Girls & Tech’, you can buy it here > http://kkb.co/39896

Special thanks for my book launch:

Thanks GEPI team especially Angelyn Liem, Surya and Fung to help me make it happen

Thank you my publisher Bentang Pustaka

Thanks for the generous support from sponsors, Acer Indonesia & MoAyu beauty care

And last but not least thanks my team at Kutukutubuku.com and Girls in Tech Indonesia

 

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The Traveling Words

It’s a special day.

I was invited to be a guest lecturer at ESQ Business School to talk about creative writing. Of course this is kind of suprising for me, because it’s a business school, and I usually invited to talk about entrepreneurship. So this is new and I’m so excited!

The students of ESQ Business School are all equipped with a set of positive mindest and enthusiasm, ESQ way. ESQ character building concept was founded by Ary Ginanjar Agustian. It’s known to combined IQ (Intelligence Quotient), EQ (Emotional Quotient) and SQ (Spiritual Quotient). It works really well to help the students to build their maximum capacity as what I just witness. I’m impressed!

We had such a great time in class, everybody’s sharing their story and planning to write a book. I just hope they will invite me when they launch it

I was lucky to also be able to visit the highest Musholla, Musholla At Thuur at Menara 165. Very beautiful and peaceful up there.

On this special occassion, I took the opportunity to introduce a new project ‘The Traveling Words‘ - founded by me and Hanny @beradadisini - we want to share the joy of writing, the fun way!

TheTravelingWords is a global movement to promote peace by leaving hand-written notes on a piece of paper in various places, to be found by random strangers. Every month, the team will throw a certain theme and a certain venue for you to leave your hand-written notes. The notes you’ve left behind will then be displayed on the website to be found.

The November destination of The Traveling Words is Coffee Shop! And the topic is distance. Click here to find out how to participate!

From time to time, TheTravelingWords team will also organize weekend writing retreats—where we will take you to a lovely destination and assist you to deal with your feelings and issues through creative writing.

I believe: magic happens when we let words travel.

 

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A New Beginning: From Washington DC to New York City

People often go to India or Nepal for spiritual search. But to me, I had my spiritual journey in the United States of America.

I was invited by US State Department as one of 28 delegates from 28 countries (Argentina, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, South Sudan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, and Uzbekistan) to participate in IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Program), with a focus in entrepreneurship. We call the program, ‘A New Beginning 2013′ #ANB13

I’ve been invited to similar program before, so I have guessed a bit of what I would get. But this 3 weeks trip turned out to be totally different than what I have imagined. It’s a life-changing, mind-opening trip in every way.

Let me begin with my colleagues. 28 succcessful entrepreneurs from 28 countries. When I met them, I learned many similarities in our differences, and I realize one thing: that we’re only human

In our countries, we’re all role models. I see myself as a role model to young people in Indonesia. And I can’t allow myself to be fail, wrong, weak, or even look frustrated. I isolate myself from all those feelings because I think I have this big responsibilities to society and I have to be OK all the time.

But when I was together with my friends in the US, I felt like we were just a bunch of goofy souls trapped in entrepreneurs body & mind :)) We’re all human being, who had fun while sharing best practices and learn more about entrepreneurship from our new mentors. Being with them, I’ve learned to be vulnerable. To me, that was refreshing.

I also realized from many weeks of intimate sharing with my friends that, we’re all facing the same challenges in life or in businesses, and we can win the challenges for sure! It’s just another phase of life and we’re totally headed to a brighter future if we keep going.

Being a Muslim with hijab walking around in Washington DC, Portland, Dallas and New York City was another experience. I like walking alone, visiting Islamic Center, bookstores, libraries, museums, jazz clubs, watching the sky, watching people, let my mind completely absorbs the details I saw on the street. It sounds normal for most of you, but I felt a rush of self-consciousness because I was different from everybody (picture a packed jazz club with alcohol flows and you’re alone, the only hijabi around and you don’t drink)

But as I totally blend in with the scene, talking to strangers, looking to people in the eye, walking like I know where I’m going, people can start to see me beyond my hijab, they start to see me as a person.

Random people on the street even show their curiosity by asking me stuff about Islam “Can you drive?” – ask to take pictures with me “My wife wants to take pictures with you” – my friends also wanted me to teach them how to wear hijab “Ollie show me how to wear it!” – It was wonderful to break the barrier and show what Muslim girls can do.

On my trip, I met entrepreneurs running million dollars businesses from EO (Entrepreneur Organization) network like Jim Smith (CEO Cash4Books), Gail Davis (Founder & President GDA Speakers), Jill Nelson (Founder & CEO Ruby Receptionists), visiting amazing office like Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, meeting the Mayor of Dallas and Fort Worth, and many other priceless opportunities.

It was such a precious experience to be able to visit their office, visit their house, listen to their stories, learn how they run and manage their businesses and most importantly: showing us hope, that it’s perfectly possible to follow their track and be more successful.

I’ve learned a lot of ‘Aha moments’ on our workshops, especially the ones lead by Scott Offerdahl. One of the most important is the art of listening. Sometimes that’s the only thing we should do, and it could be the most difficult either.

I never thought that I’d learn to be human in my supposed to be business trip to US. Now, I know more about myself (that will benefit my businesses), know things about my business that I’d never have time to clearly look at (or I never make time for that). On 3 weeks off from my daily routines, I’ve learned so much more than what I expected. I have gain my clarity and ready to reach my highest potential.

Special thanks to Adrienne Cornelsen & team (Whitney, Cameron, Scott, and many more) from Entrepreneur Organization (EO) who partner with US State Department and US Embassy Jakarta to make this trip happen. Thank you US Embassy Jakarta for your patience to support me and my ELOs (Jenni, Connie, Bob, Marek) who taught me to have a formal relationship with time :))

My new entrepreneur friends from all around the world… Cath, I admire you. Sandra, my bonita! Keep inspiring. Mykem, Hope, our Mexican dinner was amazing. Kristin, you’re such an inspiration! Juju, Vale, Gaby, the cool gank :)) I missed our midnight walk in New York. Hikmat & Gerge, thanks for the conversations. Diego, the dance! Taslima it was fun time in Manhattan. Enes thanks to introduce me to Elif Shafak! I can’t mention you guys one by one but I truly cherised every moment we spend together.

Only when I was in Subway to meet my friend Lenore in Queens that I realized, man… I’m in New York! The city that never sleep. The land of opportunity. And the journey has just begun.

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Fiction Writing Tips: How to Create Outline and Generate Ideas

When you write a story or a book, it’s only going to be useful for your readers, when you finish it. What I’ve heard from time to time, young aspiring writers have difficulties to finished a writing. I wrote the 3 basic rules to finish a book. One of them is about writing outline.

An outline to me, is like a map. Your writing is like a destination. To go there, to reach your destination, you need a map. In order to make an outline, I always use mindmapping technique. We’ll talk more about that soon.

Before we start, we need to have an idea of what we want to write. Most people want to write because they have something to say. Some big ideas. Some dreams to share. Some love to give. Some tragedies to mend. That’s where the urge of writing come from. You can’t say things like: “I have no idea what to write” – Life is so rich, you can stumble on ideas all the time. Go out, live out loud, talk to strangers, open your heart and be aware of your surroundings. After that, what you need to do is to get organized.

I carry a paper notebook and pen all the time in my bag. In there, I capture and keep my ideas. Specifically when you’re in the process of writing, all kind of things that happen to you in life, suddenly can be a material for your writing. Write everything in that one special notebook, you can check to it later.

Before outlining, I also read a lot of books, especially books that related to the topic of my writing. I read a lot of articles on the internet too. I will stop doing the research when the information started to repeat and I started to forget why am I here in this website.

Write a small notes of your story in an ugly piece of paper. Write down your story title, characters, summary of your main story. Write fast, in such imperfection mode. Just let the words flow and let it out of your brain.

After that, you can use mind map to figure out the problem that kickstart the story, progressing stressful situations for characters, conflicts’ peak and resolutions. The point is, you must know how to end the story. You must know the final destination.

Define the title for your story and put it in the center of your mind map. It will help you focus on what the story needs to reveal.

Create a plot board. Write down small chunk of stories that come up to your brain in several post-it notes, start configure your plot by playing with the ‘scenes’. Move it as you like, this is your story’s route, you can pick the best route to get to your destination. If the conflict has a peak, you want to create hills of stories in the middle. It helps to catch the readers attention and focus to your story.

What I always like to do is discussing my plot with someone that I trust. Could be an editor that is also a friend, or simply my friends who would have some cruel comments for my work. If their suggestions make sense, it will definitely help me to develop the story.

For some ideas, check these resources on building story outlines:

6 Writing Outline Templates

The Art of MindMapping your Novel

Writer’s Plot Board

One final thing, NulisBuku.com, Plot Point and Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy held a writing competition for the second time now. So, join the fun and submit your witing to Tulis Nusantara 2013 writing competition! The total prize is IDR 150,000,000! It was fun to do writing workshops in 12 cities, meet and share with young writers. Now, it’s time to shine! Check @NulisBuku timeline for more information

Happy writing!

Ps: yes I’m writing this blog post as a way to celebrate National Blogger Day. So, Happy Blogger Day!
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Unleashing Women Power with Technology

Just like Michelangelo who already can see ‘an angel’ inside a marble stone that later we know as statue of ‘David’, I also can see how women potential can sparks with technology.

Women have highly potential traits like the ability to multitask; able to use time effectively, they have more empathy, they will think about the community wellbeing first before themselves. All the qualities that will be more powerful when combined with technology.

I wasn’t born knowing that someday I will be a web developer and co-found tech startups. But gradually I build the love of using technology from a very early age. My dad bought me my first laptop and I got to get connected to the world via the internet. I found so many amazing stuff on the internet, new friends from all around the globe, and I learned that all those amazing websites that I’ve seen, I can make them too. Then I started to learn how to code.

It’s being passionately curious, that I believe turn me into a lady that work  in technology sector and eventually recognized by the Ministry of Communication and Information Republic of Indonesia, as one of Inspiring Woman in ICT 2013. But now the question is, why only roughly 20% of women, choose to involved in IT industry?

Some women have the impression that working in technology is rather complicated and sounds boring. The fact is, thanks to the rapid growth of internet penetration around the world, now tech companies are among the hottest companies. And yes, you’re already using technology massively. Messengers, social networking sites, blogs, you name it. Women already familiar with technology. But when they’re asked to involve more, most of them giving up before they even try. They prefer not to ‘look that way’ because they’re afraid they will ‘break things’, could be the gadgets or the code.

I have IT background. In university, I hang out with my geeky friends so I get used to be around them and not getting intimidated, and thanks to many hours in computer labs, I got to experiment and ‘break things’ because that’s what I need to do. Create something with computer, whatever it takes.

The result of those years in university, I become a professional web developer, that one day be able to identify a problem and building a solution using technology.

I’m a productive writer and an avid reader. I need to read a lot. When my need to buy books easily and published my own book were not met, that was a big problem. Then I created the solution for my own problem. Along with my partners, we launch an online bookstore Kutukutubuku.com and online self-publishing print on demand NulisBuku.com

With technology I can build my business with almost zero capital (in form of money), and zero budget in marketing. With technology, I can reach my customer all around the world, 24/7. And with technology, I can work anywhere as long as it connected to the internet.

Now you might asked, what if you’re not coming from IT background like me? Easy. Just try to ‘recreate’ my life experience your own way.

To get around programmers or tech enthusiasts, come to their community  meetups. In Indonesia, you can come to #StartupLokal meetup. Check #StartupLokal event information on twitter @startuplokalor the website  http://startuplokal.org . Once you’re getting used to be around them and start talking about technology like it’s your daily conversation, you can talk to them about your business idea and pitch them to be your partner. He or she can take care of technical side of your startup, and you can build the other part of it like marketing and PR.

You can also meet like-minded girls like in Girls in Tech Indonesia meetup. My partner Anantya, co-founder of Think.Web, and I started Girls in Tech Indonesia back in 2011 to bring awareness about the importance of having more women in technology. So far, we have held many meetups, inviting speakers to inspire more girls to use technology as the catalyst of their success. Follow @GirlsinTechIDfor more information about our activities.

I have a new insight when I talked to my philosopher friend Tommy F Awuy last week. He said technology come from a Greek word called ‘techne’, means crafting knowledge. So, technology is not the result of creation like what we accept nowadays. Technology is the process of creating, to make a solution. And to make a solution, at first we must be aware of our surrounding and identify problems. That means, we need to start to nurture critical thinking.

Of course nurturing critical thinking must started from school. I remember how timid most Indonesian students when they’re asked in classroom, “Any question?” – room went silent. And that must urgently change. The mindset to create, be creative and courage to take risks could be build by giving women inspiration and successful women in technology role models that they can look up to.

After knowing the core and first effort to change mindsets, then we can go on to the next step of technical training for the specific use of technology.Ibu Betty Alisjahbana from Mastel once show me some results of the survey Mastel conducted in ASEAN countries for 3 categories: entrepreneurs, empoyees and ICT users. Women usually use technology for various purposes, like: search useful information (such as medicine, cooking recipe, etc), selling things online, make online payment, corresponding with email & chat, order or buy online, social media activities, and various activities that can help forming opinions, making decisions and giving support to who needs it.

From the research we can conclude that the technology training that can benefit women includes: creating and managing websites, information search skill, optimizing the use of social media for specific purposes, and more.

Let me spell it again clearly, IT sector need more women. There’s a lot of room to grow and the opportunity is high. Women have the same chance with men, it’s up to us to overcome the barriers and took the advantages.

Let’s start IT, ladies!

Notes: This is my column for Usahawan Nusantara magazine, a regional SEA magazine circulate in 4 countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. It’s full of articles, tips and interviews about startups in the region.

Click here to get the magazine

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