Tulia tells her story
SHARING her creation with the world and having published two books is a life time achievement for Tulia Nacola.
The 39-year-old is a professional woodworker and runs her own furniture business in Pacific Harbour — a business she had been operating for 11 years.
Ms Nacola hails from Soa Village in Nakorotubu, Ra and comes from a family of six where she is the second youngest.
Writing is something she is not new to since her father Ratu Jo Nacola was a writer himself and an English lecturer at the University of the South Pacific. Growing up she said reading was something she loved because it transported her to another world created by the writer.
“I’ve always been a great believer of storytelling and passing down family stories to the younger generation, so that it’s kept alive,” Nacola said.
Nacola said her first novel titled ‘Strength of a Name’ was a creative non-fiction book based on her parents’ upbringing and the challenges they faced growing up in their families and when they met.
“It follows the path my dad took as a young man from his village and traditional ways into the world of academia, and how he lived in the two worlds and the sacrifices he had to make.”
She said her second novel ‘The Brown Dress’ was a compilation of women’s stories from the remand centre and women’s prison.
“It’s a story of self-discovery and courage through the friendships made while the women were in there.”
‘The Brown Dress’ took her about two and a half years to write.
“I had to share my time between two passions, woodworking and writing, so I made furniture by day and wrote in the evenings. “When I started writing, one of the challenges was not having enough time to do it all. “Then eventually you just come to the point where you have to make sacrifices for what it is that you really want to achieve.
“So I cut out unnecessary things that were taking up my time like social media, I had to let go of friends that weren’t helping me grow and change bad habits. “I’m still learning every day, but I find that it’s easier now than when I first started”
Both books are available on Amazon.