QuiltPossible!

Over the past several weeks, I have been wracking my brains, posting to forums, asking people for feedback and ideas, and getting writer's block in the process of figuring out what could possibly be interesting enough, and varied enough, for me to write about at least twice a week (above & beyond my blog.) Last week, I had a really serious scare and thought I was going to have to back out of my writing gig because I literally could not write anything. I would sit at the computer and stare at it blankly. I would look at my little list of ideas and draw a blank about what to write in the first sentence. I could not will my brain to form a coherent thought nor my hands to type something legible.

A couple of weeks ago, a reader - Lily Bean Designs - had this to say in a comment she left on my blog post about the Newspaper Launch:

For your article, I think you just need to choose a topic that you are passionate about. The one thing that you think of first when you think of your crafting! It will be easy then....your mind will not want to stop!

Of course, when I first read it, I thought that was very vague and unhelpful (sorry Lily), but I must have tucked that away somewhere, and her words to me were slowly working their way into the part of my brain that draws on creativity and inspiration. Less than a week later, I got an idea & posted this to a forum to get some feedback:

... I just got an idea that (hopefully) will cure my writer's block & quilting block (ha ha) at the same time.

Every month, I will do a feature article on a particular type of quilting pattern - history, origin (if I can find) some speculation & maybe a story of how a particular quilt in that style influenced different things, or maybe how you can see that quilt's influence in places.

Then, over the course of the month, I will write articles & tutorials on a block featured in that quilt, and show different colorways, block layouts, and sample projects with downloadable patterns....

The response was really positive, so I pitched it to my editor, and she LOVED it!

I named my series "QuiltPossible!" because within quilts, there are limitless possibilities. And that simple idea - write about what you know & love - is not only a timeless, true concept, but one that is absolutely priceless as well.

The series starts this coming Tuesday, and opens with a feature article on charm quilts. I am really excited about the series debut and anxious about how it will be received. Please let me know what you think about the series as it progresses! Subsequent articles will be published every Monday & Thursday.

I still plan to write the random article here & there - especially on topics that you guys have suggested - but these will be in addition to my regular series (so a bit unpredictable in their publishing) and not instead of it.

Happy quilting!