Perihal Rasa Malas

January 7, 2022 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ 6 Comments

Belakangan ini, saya lagi nggak mood nulis.

Kalau ditanya kenapa, alasannya banyak: kerjaan yang menggunung, baju kotor yang menunggu dicuci, bahan makanan yang menanti dimasak. Kalau saya diberi waktu untuk menjelaskan kenapa saya nggak mood nulis, saya rasa saya bisa menghabiskan setengah jam sendiri untuk mencoba menjelaskannya.

Tapi, terlepas dari jawaban yang keluar dari mulut saya, alasan yang sebenarnya ternyata jauh lebih sederhana dari yang orang-orang pikirkan: saya malas.

Malas apa? Ya malas menulis. Malas memikirkan premis cerita baru. Malas menjalani proses riset yang bukan main panjangnya. Malas merunutkan ide dan adegan cerita. Malas menghabiskan cuti untuk menulis draf satu naskah. Malas melakukan swasunting. Malas mengirimkan naskah ke penerbit. Malas menunggu catatan revisi dari editor. Malas menentukan judul, menulis blurb buku, dan malas berdiskusi panjang untuk menentukan konsep desain sampul buku.

Continue reading →

Jakarta Food Finds – Early 2020

April 11, 2020April 10, 2020 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ Leave a comment

Not going to be a very long post here, just a fun idea I thought of that people may or may not find useful.

Either way, I think it’s a nice repository to store my food finds, so I can always go back to the list whenever I’m bored and in need of some good food. Bonus points if they’re actually affordable.

Continue reading →

Wishlist for 2020 and How I Plan to Use Them

March 21, 2020March 18, 2020 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know why, but I just have this very strange attraction towards somebody else’s wishlist. Not to be confused with being covetous or anything, but there’s just something so inspiring and weirdly… whimsical about seeing what sparks creativity and productivity in someone else—even more so if the person is a creative.

You know, like how you couldn’t resist but to wonder what kind of fountain pen did Tolkien use to pen Lord of the Rings? Or how you wonder what kind of cooking utensils do Martha Stewart use in her own personal, home kitchen?

Knowing what other people use in their own creative endeavors, for me, brings tremendous joy and relief—joy because now I know more stuff I could use to make my own life easier; relief because at least I’m not the only person who hoard stuff, and think that the right pen and paper makes for the best writing experience—the same way the right keyboard makes all the difference when it comes to typing my next novel-length project.

Continue reading →

Alicia Lidwina’s March 2020 Favorites

March 14, 2020March 20, 2020 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ 1 Comment

To be honest, I haven’t done a lot of shoppings this past month, because of the widespread virus and all that jazz. But that doesn’t stop me from having a few personal favourites from my own stash–some of them I bought during my trip to Japan, while some others I just have lying around my room.

By the way, this is also the first time I’m doing this kind of post, so I’m not 100% sure if anyone would be interested in reading them. I do, however, really enjoy reading (or watching!) other people’s favourite items, what’s in their bags, what’s their writing setups, etc., so I digress.

Continue reading →

Of How Polaris Musim Dingin Came to Existence

February 29, 2020February 22, 2020 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ 2 Comments

I’m going to be brutally honest; I never had any intentions of publishing “Polaris Musim Dingin”. It’s true, you can ask my editor about it. It took months for me to let the very idea of publication simmer in my head before I finally relented, and let the book meet its readers.

Continue reading →

9 Things to Do Before Starting on a Novel Project

May 11, 2019May 9, 2019 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ 3 Comments

If you’ve been following me on Instagram lately, you’ll know that I’m currently planning for my next novel project.

It’s a long time coming project, since the last time I published a novel was at the end of 2017—I couldn’t even remember how many times readers and my editor had asked me if I was working on my next book.

Writing a novel is always hard. It doesn’t matter if I’ve done it in a short amount of time; I still shudder in fear whenever I think of the days I’ll spend getting stuck on a nasty writer’s block, trying my best to finish just one last scene before grabbing dinner to-go.

Scared as I was, I kept on trodding the uncertainty of “starting a brand new novel project”. And although it took me quite a while to gather my ideas and build up excitement for the project, I currently feel like I’m ready to start writing it.

Continue reading →

30 Ideas to Go on Your Own Artist Date

April 6, 2019April 5, 2019 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ 5 Comments

If you’re a writer, or an artist in general, it’s imperative that you take care of yourselves from time to time.

I’ve talked about how you could decompress during a busy week, which are the small things you could do every single day to keep your stress levels in check. I’ve also talked about going on a writer’s retreat from time to time to recharge your creativity.

recharge artist date ideas — Photo by bruce mars from Pexels

But what about the in-betweens? You might not have the luxury to afford a writing retreat, and you might already have been doing all the decompression methods I’ve talked about, but you still feel burnt out at the end of each week. Take a step back; it’s normal to feel overwhelmed. Calm down. Take a deep breath. We’ve got this.

Continue reading →

Deconstructing “Strength”

March 30, 2019March 30, 2019 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ Leave a comment

“How do you manage to keep on doing this?” one of my team member in the office asked me, right after my boss gave me a stern warning for not delivering the targeted completion date of my project. “Why aren’t you more upset? How could you be so strong?”

I remember I just stared at her, not knowing how to answer the question. It would be a lie to say that I wasn’t upset at all. It was my project, after all. And if I took the warning lightly, I could risk my professional credibility as a project manager. So it wasn’t like I was fooling around, either.

But what my team member said had some truth. Despite being upset, I never did show it to everyone. Despite being torn apart by the warning, I kept on managing the project like it was just another day—as if I never screwed up.

Continue reading →

5 Gift Ideas for the Writers in Your Life

December 15, 2018December 15, 2018 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ 2 Comments

It’s that time of the year again. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, there’s got to be something to look forward to during this end-year.

I personally love December.

Not only do I get some time off from work, but I also get to spend my days celebrating the holiday season with my family. There’s just something magical with end year gatherings—you know, with all the scrumptious food and decadent desserts. And since I didn’t even try to hide my jittery excitement towards the end year, it may come as no surprise at all when I say that above all that, I also love giving presents to my family and friends.

I love giving presents.

But I couldn’t say I love receiving them.

Not because I don’t love receiving them, of course. But it’s more because people rarely give me presents I actually want. Of course, I know I have to be grateful for receiving any presents at all, but when you’ve spent your whole life getting socks and t-shirts for Christmas presents, you’d eventually get sick of it.

So here’s a list of 5 Gift Ideas for the writers in your life. If you know an aspiring author or even an established author, I’d hazard a guess that they’re probably getting tired with all the uninspiring, run-of-the-mill, boring presents they’ve been getting all their lives. Granted, these are more like my own personal wish-list, to say the least, but I think writers like me would appreciate these items just the same. Continue reading “5 Gift Ideas for the Writers in Your Life” →

Why I Started Blogging & How I Blog Regularly for Over a Year

December 8, 2018December 8, 2018 ~ Alicia Lidwina ~ 10 Comments

With the coming of December, this means I have been posting regularly on my blog every single week for one whole year.

Okay, maybe more than a year.

Back in 2017, when I challenged myself to be more active in this blogosphere, I half-expected myself to quit halfway through, just like how I usually do my new year’s resolutions. In fact, looking back, I am astounded by my own persistence in writing blog posts, to the point where I started questioning why I started doing it in the first place. Continue reading “Why I Started Blogging & How I Blog Regularly for Over a Year” →