Hayu Hamemayu

Hi folks,

Been ages since the last time I wrote something in this blog. Office routines and so many things on my plate got me stuck lately. Maybe I’m just being lazy. Or maybe I’m just making excuses. I don’t know.

But, since I’ve just experienced another dream comes true moment, I force myself to write. I got to let it captured here (while editing another stuffs for office, little distraction won’t hurt, right? don’t tell my boss though :D).

This is about me and book. Yes, book. My obsession with book is started in 1992 when I was in primary school. At that time, my dad took me to his school library quite often. His profession as a teacher allows me to access all the books I want in the library. I spent a lot of time there; reading poems, short stories, novels, biographies, and so on. I drown into books and fantasies. And soon, I had this dream in my mind that one day, I will publish my very own book(s), especially the fictional ones.

Writing is what I love the most after reading. And that is one of the few things I am good at. I’m not good at art, I’m not good at crafty things. But, no matter how deeply in love I am with writing, I never had the guts to join any competition. Part of it because I was afraid that my story was not good enough (I sent my stories once or twice to some publishers, but they refused them. Made me start to think that I was not as good as I previously thought). I nearly gave up on writing fiction. Until one day, I decided to join a short story competition held by Retakan Kata community in the 2013 (yes, I waited for 21 years to get that courage), and surprisingly, my story won the fourth place and was published in the anthology: Jendela-jendela Aba. That was my very first fictional book which also marked the turning point.

It wasn’t about winning. For me, it was more about the feeling that I can really write. That I can write something worth to read. That I can write something interested for the readers. I know I have published several non-fiction articles, but fictional piece is something different. It’s another achievement. It makes me feel good. It makes me craving for more and more publications.

And last February that craving has been finally satisfied. I published my second fictional book: Siklus Cinta, a short story compilation. Telling stories of how people fall in love, brokenhearted, recovered, then fall in love again like a cycle. It’s a collaborative work with my twin-friend at office: Birgitta Puspita.

I know it’s not a huge achievement. It’s not a perfect piece, best-seller, whatsoever, but it sure is a dream comes true for me. At least, I can now officially call myself a writer. Haha.