In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

A plethora of lovely designs and colours; can't wait to chain-piece these (and free up the cutting mat for something new lol)! A couple of days ago I received an order of fabric; some is for myself but most is for various projects that will go to new homes. I tucked away nearly all the cuts, but opening a mini charm pack, immediately I began to play. And now I need to sew those squares into bigger squares as soon as a free moment emerges. No way am I going to transfer all those designs to the quilt wall or stack them up for another day. Every year I buy a mini charm pack, sometimes Christmas themed, other times from a design that tugs on my heart. I make coasters from them to give to family and friends. I add strips about 1.5" wide for a border, make little mug-rug sandwiches, then machine quilt most of them, a few hand sewn. Slap a binding around them and voila, nice gifts for anytime of year. But not only are gorgeous prints making feel extra blessed; I'm making slow but...

Soon enough this side of the quilt will be safely hidden from view. But it's worth a photo, all those basted then sewn together hexies part of a greater good (kind of like how novels are written and sometimes lives are led). Currently I could use a few more hours in a day; in addition to reading through (and making significant revising gains in) the latest manuscript, I've opened up a published novel from a few years back in the hopes of maybe fashioning a print version. Then there is The Possibility of What If which I am reading through a couple of chapters each evening, searching for typos or other errors that might have squeaked through. It's so nice to peruse a story in eBook form; so far I've only made a few alterations, no glaring mistakes found, whew! And if those three tales weren't enough, I have a quilt screaming for attention (see photo above), plus I finished a Cornflower Quilt block yesterday, with fabric in the post for another quilt for the daughter ...

Another new shiny; such a fun block from Jodi Godfrey's Cornflower Quilt. A few mornings back I woke far too early. Eschewing the usual cup of tea, I sat at my computer, pulled up a file and began to read a story I wrote in the summer of 2013. I didn't start at the beginning, jumping into about the last third, as I knew this draft possessed a rough introduction. Yet where I read, the prose wasn't bad. By that part of the draft, I had a feel for the characters, and when it ended, I was a little sorry it was over. I was really tired too, ha ha, but the next day I perused it from Chapter One, not minding all the blah blah blah that needed to be excised. By Chapter 6 the writing was decent, and I decided to make this story my next project. (Not that I need a new shiny, but....) What's intriguing about this novel is that as far as I can tell, from the few notes taken, I have no idea what spurred the plot, no frame of reference other than where it sits in a list of all I'...

Wildflowers and sunflowers I grew from seed, unbothered by our coolish weather.... Well kind of moving aside, this post notwithstanding. Yesterday I uploaded the second novel so it can be sampled by prospective readers while The Possibility of What If hit other online retailers, that was exciting! So this morning instead of plopping down in front of a computer, I parked my behind on the sofa and picked up a big English paper piecing project that is sort of near completion. A Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt for my youngest granddaughter only needs the rows sewn together, but that's a lot of hand-stitching, kind of like finishing a first draft then saying, "All I have left are the revisions!" Ah revising; there's no beast quite like picking apart a paragraph and putting it back together. I've sat with two or three of those in the last few weeks, trying to figure out the best way of saying this or that, or wondering what I was on about originally. Yet there is...

Having released my novel, I turned a little attention to some EPP...   The days following a novel's release are full of.... Well, I'm still busy with books; I've spent recent mornings reading through Gracious Mysteries , the next installment in this series . I've also pondered what I want to write next, hehehe. I've done laundry, pottered in the garden, worked on some English paper piecing, also taken a lovely drive along Highway 101 not quite as far as Orick but close. I given great consideration to what it means having released another novel; I've been publishing books since 2011, eleven years of poking about with plots and characters, at times wondering why I feel compelled to share these slices of my gray matter as well as chunks of my heart and heaps of my soul. Yet here I am, still at it. Let me tell you why it matters.... Self-publishing is a misnomer; I'm deeply grateful for Smashwords , through which I distribute my stories. I've been blessed w...

The Possibility of What If , my fifteenth novel, is now available for download! So after plenty of assistance from some awesome folks, I am so pleased and a little proud to announce the release of my latest novel, which introduces a new series to my collection! The Possibility of What If is the first book of That Which Can Be Remembered , and I cannot thank enough my husband who is more than my beloved spouse but also my tech champion when things get dodgy. Self-publishing is such a misnomer, why I prefer the term independent publishing. But before I get off topic, let me share what this fantasy/women's fiction series is all about.... While mourning her husband Thaydon, Vodali refugee Brynn Dahl learns that her Yunka spouse might still be alive. During a widespread plague Brynn and her family take to the road in search of the veteran, meeting up with other Vodalis along the way. Meanwhile Strivek, an amnesiac welder, dwells among other vets on a faraway ranch. The only clue to S...

After a rainy weekend, dahlias remind that despite the darkness, beauty awaits. Amid the tragedy in Highland Park this week, I've been trying to maintain an even keel. Soon I'll release my next book; there is much to do between the final edits and watching as a tale goes live. Synopses are written, tags chosen, covers are sorted, so many elements that I should have a list, although I don't. Does that mean I wing it with every new release? Maybe. But for now I'll keep with my usual routine. What is that routine? It's a combination of formatting the manuscript in Word, although this book was written in Open Office, so fingers crossed when I upload it as a Word Doc all turns out as it should. Covers are my most tricky element, but now that they are ready, all I have left is reading through a few chapters just to confirm that the story is.... It's done, it's been vetted, it's merely a day or so from going from my possession to whomever deems it worth their t...