A few weeks ago, we had a chat with Dian from Kemala Home Living and Maesy from The Dusty Sneakers. The four of us wanted to create a small intimate gathering on books named Cups and Pages. We set the date and invited the guests. Cups and Pages Volume 1 (7/12) at Casadina, Kuningan, Jakarta featured Tyas of Juzztyas, Yudhi Puspa (Tia) of Rumah Dua Pohon, Titi Akmar of Titiw and Vina of Bracodemag.

We first introduced ourselves, a bit about our blog, and a sneakpeek about our book. Then we take turn to explain each books, about what we love from it and how does it inspire us in our blogging practice.

Dian shared her thoughts on a book Bright Bazaar. She found this book very inspiring and gave her a lot of ideas on how to arrange colors and decorate a place with a style. Then, Tyas shared some of her favorite book for 2014, which is a three-volumes autobiography of Muhammad Hatta, our first vice-president. She also brought Anak Bajang Menggiring Angin by Sindhunata. This beautifully writen novel are an interpretation of Javanese version of Ramayana by Romo Sindhu. Tyas said that she loves the poetic words and the moral values in it.

If Tyas’ book told a conservative value of women in the stories, Vina’s book is almost the opposite of it. Vina and her partner, Mira shares some thought of women issues on their blog Bracode Mag. They want to emphasize women issues in a more fun and persuative way. The book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg is one of the books that has inspired them to write on the blog.

The book Show Your Work by Austin Kleon was the one that Maesy picked. In this book, Maesy found a very interesting thought. That sharing your process, questions, and inspiration can help your audience get a sense of who you are and even spark collaboration with like-minded people.

And then we’re back to an Indonesian literature with Boulevard de Clichy by Remy Sylado that Titiw brought with her. She’s a big fan of Remy’s novels. What she loves most about it is that Remy’s always share lots of interesting trivia in his books. It inspires her to live up the spirit of sharing on her blog.

While Tia from Rumah Dua Pohon shares one of her favorite photobook: Small Houses that were published by Page One. Being an architect, she found this book really helped her in finding fresh inspirations.

On a more practical side, both Nike and I brought two of our blogging “guidebook”: Blog. Inc by Joy Deangelert Cho, and Blogging for Creatives by Robin Houghton. We feel that it’s a good book to help everyone who is interested in blogging practice. Both books features tips from how to choose a blogging platform, manage our blog, also things like promotion strategy. It may sounds basic, but it can be a very helpful guide. And it always be a “gentle reminder” to both of us be more disciplined about our monthly blog post schedule :’)

Our small gathering ended with big smiles on our faces. Thank you so much to all the guests, and especially our co-coordinator Dian and Maesy. And thank you Casadina for such a lovely lovely place and menu. We love your big windows and cozy ambience, it really is a perfect place to gather up! And we really really loved your caffe latte and butterscotch latte and green tea latte (and pasta too!). :))

Ah, We can’t wait for the next volume of Cups and Pages!

You can read more stories on this gathering on Maesy’s The Dusty Sneakers blog and Tyas’ Juzztyas blog.