The big news? Well, I learned how to crochet a few months ago. There was a particular thing I wanted to learn how to make so two of my fiber friends muddled through and taught me how to do it. And the amazing thing is that it’s stuck. I’m making thing after thing after thing and actually enjoying it. So, go figure.

A few seconds ago, I was sitting here in the Comfy Chair ™ crocheting a project for a friend and I started thinking about a strange side-effect to crocheting. It’s helping me work things out with my writing in my head.

Spent most of this week working on sorting out thoughts for various reviews and instead of just sitting in front of an open Scrivener screen doing nothing, I pulled out one of my WIP projects and started going at it. That’s when the strange thing happened, I was focused on crocheting rows but my mind was actually rambling off good ideas and sentences. Every now and then I’d pause to jot the ideas down, then I’d go back to working on my row.

I’m a bit surprised at this discovery and look forward to seeing what other insights and effects crocheting has on my other lifetime passions.

Your cure for writer’s block:
I tape a copy of my daughter’s college tuition to the side of the computer. Just kidding, but I don’t believe in writer’s block. Writer’s block is a lack of confidence, and I’m a professional writer so I’ve got no time for that nonsense. Remember, I’m going to die someday, so why should I be afraid to tap keys?

Pessimistic question: Will you keep writing even after people stop reading?
Of course, and probably more than I write now. Writing and publishing are two different things. I write because I have to, because I won’t be happy unless I’m putting these stories down on paper. I publish to pay the bills.

I just added the read to my Goodreads.com page. Which then led me to looking the book up on amazon. On that page there’s a video of Cornelia describing a bit of herself and her process. I love what she has to say about it all. I especially love how she mispronounces Moleskine (she says the word the same way I say it).

Now that I’ve finished a book, I think I’m going to switch gears now and work on my Tarot School homework. I’ll post more about that in a bit.

Then, I read something like this quote from Neil Gaiman (in an interview he did on Goodreads.com):

And I’m glad I waited. I think it’s a better book than I set out to write 23 years ago, and I feel like the gods smiled on me, and I got very lucky. Normally, in anything I do, I’m fairly miserable. I do it, and I get grumpy because there is a huge, vast gulf, this aching disparity, between the platonic ideal of the project that was living in my head, and the small, sad, wizened, shaking, squeaking thing that I actually produce. And then there is The Graveyard Book, which is, I think, the first time I’ve felt really satisfied.

And suddenly, I don’t feel so bad about what I have written.