Impostor Syndrom

There are so many ways we wind up feeling like an impostor!  For years I didn't quite believe that I had written a 'real' book, in spite of its physical presence on my shelf.

When it went out of print, I struggled again with the fact that I had actually written a book.  There were no more copies to be had, so was it really real?

Eventually, with the help of some friends, it got turned into a PDF and I sold copies that way.  But is a digital version really 'real'?

Now I am working on a second title.  I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I am once again attempting to put technique into words.

The Intentional Weaver is much bigger in scope than Magic.  And much, much more difficult.

Meeting with a professional editor suddenly made this whole endeavour real in a way that it had not been previously.  A 'real' editor!  Somehow it made me feel as though I really was a 'real' author!  Because I had an editor!!!

Since I cannot afford to print any kind of copies, then warehouse them, the decision was made to use an on-line host.  We found one based in Canada that offered both digital and print-on-demand options.  Since people had been saying over and over again that they wanted a 'real' book, not a digital version, this hosting site seems to fulfill everything that will be required.

The offering for Magic, already in PDF format, went live on Wednesday.  Since then there have been sales to customers in the US, Canada and Great Britain.

I was amazed anyone was still interested in getting a copy.  On the other hand, there have been new weavers come along since the original Magic became out of print in it's original format.

Being able to test the site to see how easy/difficult it was, then have real, actual, customers purchase, well, it was eye opening.

And I think I am a little more comfortable calling myself an author.

The really valuable thing about the trip to California and spending four days going through the manuscript is that I now feel that I have good bones to build on.  There is much more to do before it will be ready for publication.  But it feels right now.  And I feel a whole lot more confident that this (oh, my!) second book has something of value in it.

Plans Afoot, Part II

No event comes into being without a lot of effort before it sees light of day.  Venues have to be found, dates secured, budgets formulated, equipment found.  For the past couple of months there have been arrangements being made for upcoming Master Weaving classes, both at Olds and in satellite locations.

These events have now gone 'live' at this link.  Scroll down the page for upcoming scheduled classes. (edited to add, put Master Weaving into the search bar.  The link gets you all of the college offerings, not just the master weaving classes.)  If anyone is interested in taking a class, they will have to create an account (if they haven't already done so) in order to register.

For the class in Cape Breton, the college is taking class registration.  Students will have to go to the Gaelic College site to register for room/food.

There are other things still in the planning stages and until they are sorted out I don't feel I can talk about them in case things fall through.

But changes are in the wind.  Technology has made it more and more possible for distance learning, for those who are interested in that due to life commitments.  Perhaps distance is an issue and workshops not easily accessible in real life.

We live in interesting times.  Stay tuned!

Read recently and currently reading:

Sleeping in the Ground by Peter Robinson
Feeding My Mother by Jann Arden
A Newfoundlander in Canada by Alan Doyle

Wending our way towards eBook publication

 

Here is a live Link

Plans Afoot

It has been a productive stay and things have progressed fairly quickly.  Faster than I had hoped, even.

There has also been time to visit with friends, make new acquaintances, visit some museums.

Developments are underway for the rest of the year and hopefully projects will come to a successful conclusion.  Some I can talk about, some need to mature a while.

Olds College Master Weaver program continues to grow.  Opportunities to take level one at satellite locations will be announced soon, plus level two will happen in Cape Breton the first week of June.  They are also looking at offering level one the last week of May.  I’ve been asked to teach level one again at the college in June.  The paperwork arrived this week and their website should be updated shortly with this year’s course offerings.

With the technology now available to have on line classes, there are more and more opportunities for these to happen, too.  In addition to Janet Dawson’s Craftsy classes, Jane Stafford’s on line guild, Margaret Coe’s and Tien Chiu’s, there are more people entering the world of on line teaching and learning.  Stay tuned for more.

Tomorrow is my last day here before I head home on Friday.  I hope to have an announcement in the next few days about Magic in the Water.

Exciting times!

Sleep

Is what I should be doing, but I can’t get to sleep.  At least it isn’t a six am flight, so there’s that. 

This is one of the pieces of art in the Vancouver airport, where I hope I will be in 12 or so hours.  So far the weather is looking good here, but I’m not sure if it will be good in Vancouver.  So many things to think about, even for a short trip. 

We take air travel so much for granted now.  It’s hard to believe but the very first time I flew on a plane was to return home from Sweden in 1969.  You see, I’d taken a berth as a passenger on a freighter, out of Montreal to Oslo, then a train to Sweden.  And then I had to get home.  So I flew from Stockholm’s Arlanda airport to Vancouver. 

Air travel has changed a lot since those days.  But then, so many things have changed.  

Even hand weaving, although I hadn’t begun to weave in 1969.  That was to come later, in 1975.  And now, in 2018, I am about to go meet Tien Chiu’s loom, a Jacquard, with a computer interface.  Such a loom for hand weaving had not been thought of, I don’t think, in 1969.  After all, home computers had not really been thought of, either.  

And now, we email across the world, post digital photos and videos to the internet and communicate in ways that only science fiction writers seemed to think of.  Cell phones.  Fitness trackers with Bluetooth connections to iPads.   And more.  

Amazing  times we live in.  These are the sorts of things I think about when I can’t get to sleep...

A Wee Respite

A fairly stressful 2017 rolled into an equally stressful new year.  Not that all stress is bad, just that there has been too much of it of late.  

So on Sunday I leave for a wee respite.  I will have time to visit with friends, talk a lot about textiles in general and weaving in particular.  

Plans continue for the conference here next year, plus other irons are in the fire.  I am just suspicious enough that I don’t want to talk about them too much just in case they come to naught.  

But I’m not leaving until Sunday, so I’m beaming another place mat warp.  Because it already is beginning to look like this year is going to evaporate very quickly and I have a slew of things I really want to get done.   

A wee respite sounds like just the thing 

I finished my book this morning but haven’t decided which I will read next.  :)

Dreadlines

In a fit of mid-winter blues I started referring to deadlines as dreadlines.  Feeling overwhelmed with life, continuing dental woes, lack of energy, looming deadlines were viewed with a certain level of dread and stomach clenching anxiety.

In the past few weeks I have managed to make sufficient progress that I realized calling them dreadlines was a level of negativity I did not want to subscribe to, gave my head a shake and applied shoulder to the wheel with a renewed sense of purpose.  

It would help if I weren’t so prone to taking on such large, sweeping, projects.  Projects that didn’t take such an enormous amount of time and energy.  Like co-chairing a reasonably large conference.  Like trying to write a book.  Like dressing the loom with 40 yards of warp.  Etc.  

But if I didn’t, well, I wouldn’t be me.  

A friend tries very hard to be a helpful, positive energy in the world.  We joke that she tries to save the world.  I have given up that sweeping and daunting a task, but no doubt I will continue to try to accomplish large, sweeping projects.  But I swear, this conference and this book?   Once they are done?  No more.  

Obligatory weaving photo to sweeten the post...