Tri first learned English when she was eight and already fell in love with writing since she was seven. She was born in Jakarta in the year of 1980 and spent her childhood there until the age of 12 before moved to Indramayu. After graduated from High School, she continued her education in Bandung and took Tourism Management majority at Bandung Tourism of Institute (Enhaii). Between her college schedules, she kept writing, mostly with her experience spent in Solo and Yogyakarta. And after graduated from Enhaii, she worked at a bookstore and that made her more familiar with books and publishing. After got married and had kids, she returned to Indramayu and started to do online jobs for freelance translating and made her own blog.
The year 2009 was the first time she published her work on the internet before finally getting published. Some of her friends encouraged her to publish her first romance novel and this novel is her first published work. She has some other manuscripts and getting work to publish it.
Julie: How are you today?
Tri: Feeling good. Just woke up. It's 5 am here. lol
Julie:I am sooo sorry! lol Do you need a bit to wake up?
Tri: Nah, I'm fine. I usually wake up in this hour.
Julie: Where exactly are you ?
Tri: Well, actually I'm in Indonesia
Julie : I would like to ask.. how old were you when you began writing seriously and what inspired you to do it?
Tri: I began writing when I was seven, but in my native language. It was because I have a lot of imagination and the best thing to pour it out is with writing. My genre is mostly fantasy and romance. I have a soft spot for both genres.
Julie: How many novels have you written since you began?
Tri: To Love Again is my first novel although I had written a lot of stories. Just got the courage to make it public in 2009 before getting one of it published.
Julie: I love the cover!and you picked the perfect release date! What inspired you to write to love again and how did you come up with your main characters? Are they modeled after yourself or someone you know?
Tri: Thank you. Well, the inspiration is from one of my aunts. She is a divorcee and there was one day when I walked past a flower shop near my home and the idea came up and the plot just flowed. Lily is the heroine, she's a strong woman and Aidan is the prince charming. Lily is the character who I pictured my aunt to be (and all the strong single parents out there) while Aidan is the knight in shining armor.
Julie: Were you excited when you finally finished the story and was able to publish or were you nervous?
Tri : Well, both..lol. I'm excited because being published is what every writer or author dreams about and nervous because I know I can't please everyone. There will be a bunch of people who hate or dislike my work. But, again I wrote all my stories with all my heart and I hope that will touch my readers' heart as well.
Julie:Yes, being an author requires a certain bit of passivity. There will be those who don't favor your work, but many more that do! As long as you are pleased with your work, you have accomplished something big! In saying that, know you have joined several author groups on Facebook, have you found them to be a great help, as I have?
Tri: I can say, yes. I've met a lot of writer/author peers and learn a lot from them, also gained information in self-publishing that I haven't known before. Hopefully, it will affect on my book sales too...lol *kidding*
Julie: Lol, no your not! I hope it helps too, but one of the things that I found that helps is constant promotion! Some of us don't have time for that! I saw that when I eased up on the promos, the sales slowed. Some books take off on their own after a bit, I wish that for your book.
Now, how did you discover that you could self publish?
Tri: Thank you, I hope so too. Well, at first I published To Love Again in printed version, but it is by local publisher. It's hard to sell for my international readers because of the shipping fee and one of them asked if I made an ebook version. That was when I realized I can publish an e book on my own.
Julie: I'll bet that was like a light bulb coming on over your head, lol. Its much easier to control your work and sales as well through indie publishing. So its safe to say that you've had a great experience so far?
Tri: Yup, definitely.
Julie: Is there any advice that you would like to give to others about your experience with Indy publishing?
Tri: Well, my advice is indie publishing is a hard work, but in the end you'll learn a lot in return. I already fell in love with indie publishing and will publish another e book next year, still in romance genre.
Julie: Be sure to notify me, I want to follow your progress if you don't mind. Thank you so much for chatting with me today. Especially so early in the morning for you!
Tri: Thank you for the interview as well. It's very nice to chat with you Lol...like I said, 5 am is already a clockwork for me haha...and have a great weekend!
This interview was conducted through FB chat.
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