Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Where Am I?




It's one of those times! I just finished an article for Quilting Arts, I leave on Saturday for a girl's trip to Mexico, three days after getting back I will be loading myself into a car for a many hour drive to Kansas for the IMQA show to take ten classes in five days. What does this lead to? It leads to me sitting down with a book or a magazine, but completely unable to actually read and process a single sentence.

It's getting a tad better, I actually read all the articles that interested me in the latest issue of Writer's Digest this morning. I may push my luck later and try reading some of the new book I got, "Crafting the Personal Essay" by Dinty W. Moore. (No, I am not kidding.)

Despite feeling a bit overwhelmed and frazzled, I'm actually happy and excited! Doing the article for QA was energizing and encouraging. It's a technical how-to piece, but it got the writer in me itching for more. I am looking forward to penning new essays and actually trying to submit them to some magazines. I'd love to guest blog for one of the bigger blogs.

I've always journaled, even when I was a little girl. I wrote short stories. I wrote poems. I wrote! I often wish I could go back to that mind set of a ten year old girl, who would write and not censor myself in any way. There was no critic in my head telling me my story sucked. I was so impressed with my writings, I would even go so far as to do illustrations for them!

It wasn't until recently that I discovered that just because I am not inherently attracted (good at) writing fiction, that it doesn't mean I am not a writer. My avid journaling is my writing, I have just lacked the knowledge and skill to transform those writings to pieces fit for consumption by audiences. Hence the new book I bought!

I can't believe I'm just now learning about the art of personal essays - it's what I've been writing for years, and what I share on my blogs. I simply did not have the proper name for it! Personal essays are about opinions - and anyone who knows me also knows I have very strong opinions!

I'm excited about all of this. My fiber art itself is a form of personal essay. I look forward to marrying the two art forms and using them together as a tool for voicing the things I feel the need to "get out of my system".


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

2 comments:

  1. I love your writings, musings, and how too's. You have the perfect mix of photos, and attachments on you blog. I find your style of writing amusing, and knowledgable. If you stick with this, I think you could become a regular writer in some of our favorite quilting magazines.

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  2. Congrats, on QA, I have had so many rejections from them I could probably bind them in a book=) LOL

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