As I have already jumped in and commented, I'd better do the right thing and introduce myself. I am 69, live in country Queensland, Australia. I have spent most of my creative life as a visual artist, in particular textile and if I fill in my profile and tick 'yes' for being published, those two books were non fiction craft books. Plus two self published craft books, one, which is still being sold. I have always loved writing and loved technical craft writing. But really, I just like writing, but I do want it to be read, so I do the monthly newsletter for my art group, I write long weekly updates to my children, I write constantly in my journal and when I won $300 with textile art, I signed up for a 5 week creative writing course and it opened a whole new world for me. I discovered ywriter and scrivener and was amazed: special software for writing! I have always been a person who wants to know where her efforts are going. Designing for workshops, books and articles was great and financial returns, albeit not fantabulous, were and are satisfying. I couldn't get motivated writing a book that might never be published. That has changed. First of all, I feel now I can do it just for the creative fun, but also: if it gets to be a finished manuscript, I can put it on Amazon kindle and let the market decide if it is worth reading. I love kindle. I do have a lot of hardcover books, but those are mainly non fiction about all sorts of subjects we have over the years been interested in. I used to read my fiction from the library. I can't help but be excited by the Hugh Howey success story. I love his "Wool" books and I was one of his early fans. I love the success he has and I love his blog and his generosity. He is one author who encourages fanfiction very happily. No, although I love some sci-fi and speculative writing, that is not my genre. At my age, I have learned a few things about human nature , I have a plot in my head and I want to bring those two together. Thanks for reading
Neat! What sort of textile arts did you produce? Quilts, costumes, knitted works, larger stuffed type works? I'm somewhat interested in getting into various textile works...
Welcome to the forum @hbv, from a fellow Aussie freezing her ass off in the UK. Thank you for such a meaningful introduction, I really enjoyed reading it and I am already rooting for you. I'd say you have plenty of talent and know-how to make your book a success
Thanks for your interest. My textile history is long and varied: initially quilts, some wearable art. I taught quilting making for 25 years, then moved on to textile art. When I find out how to do it I'll send my website url to you privately. It is an extremely versatile medium and speaking as a very biased textile person, much more interesting than paint. But I understand, painters may not see it that way. It is also suitable for all levels. Even a first time quiltmaker can end up with a gorgeous quilt. hvb
