Book Update

2 days ago i went to the book printer's place to check on the progress of NTS book. I didn't plan to stay long but, to my dismay, the print quality was astonishingly bad. 

I protested off course, but as usual, the printer's reactions were blaming everything else but themselves. The quality of the paper, or how in their belief, the quality is acceptable.

*sigh* 

Almost 9 years in this business, problems with printers seems to have sequals almost as many as the fast and the furious movie franchise. And their responses were so predictable that it's starting to feel like a bad commercial line.

So, i pointed out that:

1. Yes quality of the paper is terrible, but their ink density is bad. They should know by now that this brand of book paper does not absorb ink well, worse after the ink dried out, the color fades. 

2. Yes there are nothing both i and the printer can do about the paper, because in our agreement that's the publisher's jurisdiction. Even so, there are ways to make sure that the ink, specially the black ink does not fade. 

3. The files were fine. The colors were block colors, not transparent, and they made the mistake while making the plates. 

4. When they start to blame the lack of sophistication of their machine and therefore not being able to meet my expectations, i pounted the sheet that had my signature on it. I left it there because it's suppossed to be the sample of color and quality benchmark for them to follow. That sheet came from their machine, a sample that i took out from the previous night work, and showed them how different in terms of color and sharpness. 

So yes, in the end, everyone went quiet. Because i was telling the truth and they know it. Everyone appologized, but that was really not what i wanted. I wanted solutions, and i don't like the solution in my mind. 

I thought, with printing this bad, they have to reprint everything! But, i hated that. Even though the books are printed on recycled papers, i still hated the thought of wasting papers and even more so, i hated wasting time.

So, at this point, i already know the drill. While everybody else made themselves scarce and pretended to be busy, i had a discussion with machine operators. We then tried several things so that we can fix the quality and salvage the papers. 

In the end there were some metal plates, ink placement and printing sequence changed. But when i left the printer that night, everything seemed to be in order. I plan to go back there today, depended on my children's mood. I wanted to take them out to play, but my kids are home kids, they like the comfort of their home. While their moms needed to go out, they don't. If they don't feel like going out today, then i'll go to the printers.

PS : The picture of me on top of this post was taken by Atjil (Thanks tjil!). She came with me to the printers because i offered her a ride home. But it turned out i had to stay, so i had my driver took her home. 

Expo!

I know i knowwww....! Why would a magazine make a passion expo anyway? That's what people have been asking me these days. 

I'm just bored with the same old thing that we do. Beauty pageant is good but it's been around for centuries. Passion expo on the other hand, is a new concept. So i wanted to do it. It's risky, and though i try to hide it, i'm freaking out!

You see, not many people will sponsor anything new. I'm branded crazy by lots of people now, because i'm doing a completely new concept just when sponsors are confident about Gogirl! Look. That means, this year i can reap big money from sponsors if i make another big Gogirl! Look event. Instead, i make Gogirl! Look smaller in size and making it part of something bigger, something we call Gogirl! Passion Expo.

So what does that mean? It means sponsors scatter, and leave. They don't like anything new, and that means we have to fund the whole event ourselves. The problem is, the money is so tight, that we are all in praying mode. 

Needless to say, i'm scared. 

I made crazy moves in the past, though most of my madness paid off, some didn't. My mistakes cost money, and they cost a lot! So yes, i'm scared.

But, you see, somehow, my mind is programmed to seek solutions. So in times like this, my mind tells me to counsel my own heart, cuz it's the strongest part of me. And my heart tells me, i should not worry, and that... I should eat more nutritious food. Ah ya, my heart rambles just like my mouth do.

I know, Gogirl! Is going to be somewhat elevated soon. Because, experience told me, whenever we were going to grow, there were just one hardship to another that was thrown our way. So, we are going to grow. I know that. I just need to keep going and have faith.

Yeah, i admit it. This is an ambitious project. But, i swear that i do it because i want more meaningful event that can help more people. The road is tough, but we've been through worse. No need to dramatize the minor challenges we are experiencing right now.

We can do this! With or without sponsors, we will manage, we will strive, we will be successful! We will make everyone who opens booths in expo successful and make tremendous profit! We will have inspiring speakers that makes our seminar and workshop attendees feel enriched, motivated, inspired, and enlightened. Every one will be happy, inspired, and successful! Gogirl! Passion Expo is A BIG SUCCESS! Amen! Amen! Ameeen!

The NTS book

Last january, i was approached by Bentang Pustaka, a book publisher that published The Naked Traveller, Perahu Kertas, Top Words, etc. They asked me if i'm interested in writing a book. 

Suddenly, my visualization came to mind. You see, Brad Sugars taught us to IVVM : Idealize Visualize Verbalize, and it will materialize. One of the things i've IVV-ed in the last year was, i'm going to write a book someday. And that someday come sooner than i thought.

My first reaction? Wonder. Shocked. Grateful to tears (literally). And then.. Scared. I mean, is this real? Wait, am i ready? Is Gogirl!'s story really a story worth telling? Are we not getting ahead of ourselves here? 

When in doubt, i asked, who else? My husband and my sisters. Anita asked, "why do we want to write a book?" I said, "because maybe, our story is bigger than we are. Maybe, our struggles were not only meant for us, but for other's too." She smiled her very few smiles. Sat back, and sigh. "But there will be people who are going to be angry with it." She shot me a look. And i understand what she meant. During the course of time, there are many things that happened, and those things involved other people, families, and us. I understand that we have to tell the truth, and truths are... well, inconvenient.

I said, "it's time we admit that the money we got for Gogirl! came from dad not from a bank loan. We have to tell the truth." 

But i know that's not what my sister meant. We have no problem admitting our own faults, it's the stories about other's faults that makes her nauseous. So i said, "i'll be delicate, but it'll still anger certain people."

Anita just said, "ah, whatever we do, there will be people who are going to be mad at us. I'd say, let's do it. But i'm not passionate in writing a book, it's your thing ga, i'll edit and set the art direction."

Fast forward 9 months, the book is done.   We titled it "No One to Someone" because it was the theme of our very first edition and because we believe each of us has that potential.

This is the dummy of the book. It'll look almost exactly like this, with extra spot uv effect. It's going to be launched in 3 weeks and it's going to be priced at Rp 59.500,-

To be honest, we feel just as nervous and as excited as the first time we were going to launch Gogirl! 

Fingers crossed!