Indie publishing means everything is on you to get the job done. You either do the work yourself or hire someone to do it for you. On this issue, I’m agnostic. If you can do it and you like the job, do it. If you can afford to hire someone, that’s fine too. I do […]
This post is part of a series about sewing NotQuilts. If you’re unfamiliar with this method, The NotQuilt series begins here. The link below takes you to the Cat Notquilt project. So we meet again. I’ve been sick and that has delayed finishing the quilt backing. I sewed on the Pennsylvania Dutch fabric. I searched […]
Procrastination is something almost every writer deals with. We make ourselves feel worse when we compare ourselves to hard-working writers who publish four books a year or more. When you look at their habits, however, a pattern becomes clear. * Stephen King, who writes every day, grew up in a poor family that was abandoned […]
This post is part of a series about sewing NotQuilts. If you’re unfamiliar with this method, The NotQuilt series begins here. The link below takes you to the Cat Notquilt project. More time has passed. I’ve sewn all the way around the comforter, about 2 or 3 inches in. I’ve unpicked the remaining offending patches. […]
One of the most valuable skills you’ll exercise in running your author business is making decisions. It’s also one of the most frightening. If you’re in charge, you have to decide everything. If you find it impossible to get your characters to do what you want them to, the idea of directing your life and […]
The first step in the process is preparing the notquilt comforter. I dug through the stash and discovered some fabric with chickens on it, some fabric that looks like appliquéd quilt blocks, and some more fabric with Pennsylvania Dutch birds. All of these fabrics share similar themes, blah colors, are intensely country in style and, […]
Love and marriage, as Sinatra sang, may go together like a horse and carriage, but love and writing can get along like a house on fire, if you like yelling and screaming. There’s no doubt that having your spouse on your side can boost your writing career. From moral support to keeping the books to […]
This is the current NotQuilt project. The guts are an old comforter, very old. I have no idea where it came from. It’s for a queen-size bed. As with all NotQuilts, the size of the finished product is determined by the size of the filling. This one is being worked in a roundabout, bassackward fashion, […]
As I write this, there are 13 books on the shelf behind me. All of them have my name on them. One of them is “Writers Gone Wild,” published by Penguin. The rest are other people’s works I edited and annotated for my Peschel Press through CreateSpace. Fourteen inches of paper that I wrote or […]
For the last two weeks, we looked at the NotQuilts I’ve made for my family and friends. (part 1 and part 2). This week, we’ll finish with two wedding NotQuilts. Skull NotQuilt This wedding NotQuilt was made on a deadline. I wanted to make the happy couple something that would be personal and unique and […]