Sunday, April 23, 2017

Gogirl Pop Up Writing Class (Speaker: Gogirl Managing Editor)





Today I joined a pop up class presented by Gogirl magazine team and Dermatix which so far has been held in Jakarta, Bandung, and Malang. They held not only this writing class which I attend but also another interesting classes like fashion photography, photo editing, until brush lettering. But  such one kind of a thinker I am, I have no interest in another classes just as how my heart lit up as I heard the word "writing class". Moreover, the class will be coached by Esnoe Metha, Gogirl managing editor. Although nowdays I no longer read Gogirl regularly for I have moved on to magazines for older ladies, I still am a fan of Gogirl and its writings.  

I love the way Gogirl and its team and of course the Moran sisters, put a hint on self and women empowerment in almost each of its article and movement. Hence, once I read Gogirl's article not only that I got fresh information but also mostly I got my mind intrigued. 

Today, the class is about how to make a good feature. Here are some highlights I catch from what Mba Metha taught us today:
  • Feature is a descriptive article which consist of facts, opinions, and have to be able to challenge one's mind. 
  • Know who is your reader, it is important to set how you should do your writing. 
  • Feature can be about anything, from something deep until one which is lighter, for example it can be about biography, how-to-do, until fashion. One thing which I would very like to highlight here is: it does not have to be a deep or hard one, a lighter one is always welcome. Because most of the time, I think too much about what to write, I forgot to have fun.
  • For a web or digital content, a catchy title is a must, then we have to repeat our keyword so it will be easier for search engine to display our article, it has to be sweet, short and simple, and if it is too long it is better to make it partial. 



At the end of the class, we are all urge to make an interesting feature about Dermatix, our today's sponsor. We were given 20 minutes to finish and submit our writing by email to Mba Metha. I write it on Bahasa Indonesia hence it was sooo hard for me hehe. Since I start to regularly write in this blog from back then at 2009 with the intention to exercise my English, when it comes to speak up my opinion, the voice in my head has it on English. It is hard for me to express precisely the way I want it to, in Bahasa Indonesia. But I made it anyway, yay! And only for 20 mintutes where I didn't even had the time to recheck the facts I wrote. 

After our feature have been submitted, Mba Metha chose the top 3 writings and guess what? I made it to top 3! Hehe. It might be not much but oh I am so happy! 


With Mba Metha, Representative from Dermatix, and the other two "top 3" 





What is inside the goodie bag

Here is my writing, pardon me if there are some minor errors, will you? (Notes: If I am not mistaken in the era of Queen Victoria, the UK Parliament consist of all men, so my choosen word "majority" in the article below might be wrong, because not before 1918 does a woman allowed to stand as parliamentary candidates.)

Empower What is Outside as Well as What is Inside

Mungkin women empowerment mulai jadi isu yang panas akhir – akhir ini, dimulai dari Emma Watson dengan forum Our Shared Shelf-nya di Good Reads dimana dia berusaha menciptakan cara yang asik untuk menanamkan pemikiran dan memulai gerakan yang massal namun menarik untuk memperkuat peran perempuan hingga dukungan perempuan-perempuan dan tidak menutup laki-laki untuk calon presiden perempuan pertama Amerika, Hillary Clinton. 

Namun jika melihat lagi puluhan tahun atau hingga beberapa abad ke belakang, gerakan dan pemikiran mengenai women empowerment sebenarnya tidak terlalu asing. Mulai dari Queen Victoria yang bisa dengan hebatnya menangani UK Parliament yang mayoritasnya laki-laki hingga R.A. Kartini yang bisa mendirikan sekolah di jaman dimana untuk bersekolah saja merupakan hal yang sulit bagi perempuan. 

Ada satu hal yang tidak berubah mengenai women empowerment  dilihat dari beberapa abad yang lalu atau dari jaman millenial ini. Semua figur perempuan kuat tersebut pasti tidak jauh-jauh dari pemikiran hebatnya mengenai what is inside and outside. Selain kuat di bidang akademik tentu mereka juga perhatian dengan penampilan luarnya. Karena mereka percaya bahwa penampilan luar adalah apa yang dilihat orang pertama kali dan tentunya harus mewakili pemikiran hebat di dalamnya.

Tidak jarang, kita perempuan, tidak percaya diri karena hal sekecil bekas luka. Untungnya di jaman dimana science berkembang pesat seperti sekarang, banyak produk-produk hebat yang bisa membantu kita, salah satunya Dermatix. Diketahui sebagai scar guru, Dermatix mengandung CPX Technology dan vitamin C yang dapat membantu meratakan, menghaluskan, dan memudarkan bekas luka. Tidak perlu biaya mahal untuk operasi atau laser di klinik kecantikan, dengan Dermatix kita bisa mengatasi masalah penampilan yang membuat kita jadi tidak percaya diri!

 Jika kita sudah percaya diri dengan apa yang kita tampilkan di luar tentunya tidak sulit bagi kita untuk mengutarakan apa yang ada di pikiran kita. Begitu juga dengan lawan bicara kita pasti akan lebih mudah bagi mereka untuk memiliki respect terhadap kita jika we mind what is outside as well as what is inside. So, tidak ada alasan lagi untuk tidak percaya diri dan tidak berani menyuarakan ide-ide hebat kita di jaman women empowerment ini, kan?

Thank you Gogirl for today's experience and thank you Mba Metha for reminding me the core keys in writing, which I more often than not, usually forget.

3 comments:

dinda belle said...

valoo !!! idk whether you still remember me or not, but i just stumbled on fb & found ure blog. you have such a very vivid & exquisite mind through your writing. how do you so? since for me writing is like a nightmare ����
Dinda, ex Bintaraloka

Valonia Irene said...

Dear Dinda,

Hallooo of course masih inget dong Dindaa hehe! How are you doing? What are you been up to these days? Masih amatiran di dunia tulis menulis juga ini Dinda... But the most important thing is keep writing and I guess somehow your writing will be better and better. Try to look inside of your mind and write the things that trigger your mind, make it wanders deeper and deeper in hope that your writing will make others at least reflect on their life and their surrounding, moreover triggering them to do the change we need to see for the better. Semangat Dinda, be honest sajaa hehe <3 Let's catch up! Ada IG/Path id maybe?

dinda belle said...

noooo i think u do very welllll !! if u know claradeci, i think you both have the silver lining yet still remain different !!!
adaaaa my ig : petittebelle23, one of ure fan dah pkoknya, ure writing is cuiiiamik ☺️☺️