CYNTHIA ISABELLA

One day, I fell in love with a guy. The typical one who was not too dominant among his friends but somehow caught your attention. The one who you know very well was a little quieter than others but actually the most talented among his peers. The one who didn't realize that his kindness was the reason behind his charming persona. At least, that was what I perceived.

 

It was very well true that he ended up being in a relationship with a girl who once came to me and offered her help to get me together with him. I didn't listen to the voice behind me saying it was all her lies and got hurt in the end. Yes, I was too naive. But to fall in love and then suffer a broken heart is quite an experience that I (well, now I can say) was lucky enough to experience.

 

I know myself very well that I hate being betrayed, and my natural response was to have revenge in any possible form that would only give me the total winning result. I am a storyteller and I have always been wanting to write a book, so why not write all of the experience down and make my own happy ending? That was what I thought.

 

And so I spend most of my fourth year in college in my bedroom, writing for two projects; my thesis about film score and this novel.

 

An American contemporary artist, Tom Sachs, created the famous 'Ten Bullets', his principles for a happy and productive work environment. One of the rules was when you stuck on one work, move right away to another one, and when you're stuck with that, get back the to the previous work. Keep doing that until you finish both. That's what I did. 

 

While I was stuck with listening to 34 compositions of scoring in PIXAR's animated movie, 'UP', I moved to my novel and finished a chapter and sent it to my best friend to let her read it. Once she reviewed it, I continued writing and usually got stuck with finding a new refreshing idea, thus I returned to my thesis. And so on, until I finished my thesis and kind of leaving the revision of the final chapter of my novel. Only after a year later I finally finished my novel and sent it to Gramedia. 

 

So, what was the revenge again? Oh yes, it was to create the happy ending of my own and to make my miserable love story into something profitable for me and me only (of course, I don't want to share it with the main cause of my broken heart, who in the world would?). That moment when I received a confirmation letter from Gramedia was memorable, the moment when the editor contacted and edited my novel was even amazing, and the moment I hold my own printed book was something I couldn't describe. It was beyond anything in this world. I can finally call myself a writer.

 

I've read the reviews from my readers and I know I can't thank them enough for the time they spent to read it, for every honest and constructive critic, for their efforts to recommend it to friends and families and for every message they sent directly to my social media accounts. It was my first novel and I know very well the possibilities of any shortcomings. But, that will only make me want to do better on my next writing. 

 

I'm planning to write a spin-off from this story, but I can't promise on the exact time it will be finished. At the moment, I'm in the process of learning something that I believe will help to enrich the story even more.  

 

Until then, I hope all of the readers will find their own 'Kei', as I'm also on the search to find mine. ;)