The Intersection Project Duo: Inez Natalia

The energy that emits from this young, energetic woman is just so contagious, it’s easy to say why there are many people feel inspired just being around her. Now that her first book is soon to be published, let’s take few minutes to learn a little bit more about one of the duo behind The Intersection Project.

So why writing a book?

The process is nothing close to deciding that “I’m going to write a book!” within a single night decision. It was a really long process of understanding my calling, and choosing the channel to do so. I always wanted to facilitate young adults to contribute — making the world a slightly better place by using their potential, while still having fun doing it! Long story short, this grew into an ambition to write them down in a detailed and thorough way, but practical. I wanted to write this as interactive as possible. Soon after that, I met Puri, who is my writing partner. Both of us were not writers. One thing led to another, we decided to work together in this book project.

Do you think things come to you or you chase them?

I actually wrote about this on Medium . I strongly believe that the right opportunity comes, as long as you know what you want and why you want it. Especially if it also has a good impact to others. I believe it will come to you at the right time — whether you feel ready or not. There can also be a lot of great opportunities coming to you at the same time. It’s a matter of knowing what you want clearly, so you can say no to temptations and choose the right thing for you. It’s indeed a combination. Things will indeed come to you. But it also requires hard work, preparation, persistence, and courage to choose, and to face the consequences.

It’s easy to say why writing is the best way to connect with other people, especially now with blogs like Medium around. What was like to you when you first started writing?

Writing was not really my nature. I never thought I’d call myself a writer! I did write from time to time just for fun, such as writing poems, songs, or I journaled frequently just to clear my head. I wasn’t really writing for other people. In the beginning it was tough. It was difficult. It was scary, to some extent. I was thinking too much, really thinking too much. There were (sometimes still are) fears of being completely “naked” in front of readers, then be “rejected”. Along the way, I realized that “clarity of purpose” is my only cure. What kept me going from one paragraph to another, from one page to the next 50K words, is understanding the ultimate reason. The reason why I choose this path. I know a book can’t serve everyone. But the book has its own hope and wish to help those who need to find answer. It is also one small legacy I want to leave behind. Freezing thoughts and beliefs in a form of few hundreds pages.

What was in your mind when you decided to write a book? What were your days like afterwards?

I had my questions and doubts. “Am I crazy? Do I seriously write a freaking book?” Well honestly, at first the book wasn’t intended to be in this length. It was meant to be a short creative facilitating book. Thinking from that perspective, it wouldn’t take this much time and it’d be much simpler. But then I met my writing partner, and our editor, and the idea of the book was expanded. It turned into a serious writing process that took months. Well, you know the African saying, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It’s the true power of collaboration.

So what my days like afterwards… I spent a lot of time with my own mind. I also observed and listened to people. There were interviews, research, and conversations. Writing and rewriting, and rewriting. I wanted to make sure the book can be as practical as possible in facilitating readers to enable their inner conversations. The process also led me to a better understanding of myself. I had big ideas in the beginning — scattered and jumped around. Through writing a book, there was a whole new exploration of thoughts and beliefs. Through digging and elaborating some concepts and theories, I’ve become even more curious about the subject. It has been an intense roller-coaster ride!

How was it like to set things (writing the book) in motion?

This self-publishing process has been indeed an enormous learning and experiment. Lots of trials and errors. After structuring a clear concept and vision, finding the right people to work together was the first key factor in this project. Whenever doubts and concerns arise, it’s nice to have a partner to brainstorm, to ensure that we are hand in hand working on this together. We believe in the mission and that we can make it work.

Idea incubation, development, and validation, was the next stage. Obviously, content writing took most of the time. No author is satisfied with their first (or second, or fourth) draft . We also talked to a lot of people who already published a book, and explored different options of online platform to self publish.

Visual elements is one of the core variables in the book. Therefore we also worked with a professional illustrator whose vibe is well connected to the soul of the book. And now we’re entering the production stage.

The evolution of the Intersection project has been immense, and unexpected! Nothing that we have right now could reflect our original plan. Amazing people keep on coming along the way, gracefully give hands to support our mission. We grow together with the book.

If you’re not writing now or if you’re not a facilitator now, what would you do?

Hmm.. Good question. I would probably be working for an organization with a clear impact in the society, focusing on a particular field. Either in a social enterprise or international NGO, or even government, haha who knows? I always have strong interest in education and children welfare. Growing up, I started to develop an interest in environmental issue. My interest becomes really really broad. Lots of things I wanna do, while I have limitations to do everything at the same time. Therefore I took the path of facilitation — to enable more people to capitalize on their potential, so they can work in the field they have passionate in. I envision a snowball effect: when more and more people understand themselves better, have the courage to listen to their calling, make wise decisions, and take concrete actions, then inspire others to do the same.