Today’s post is a labyrinth—circles within circles. But
please bear with me.
Thanks to the Mayne Island library book sale, my collection
of books recently grew. And thanks to a friend’s keen eyes and fine taste in
literature, one of the books I captured was Jane Urquhart’ s The Underpainter.
Jane Urquhart is one of my favourite authors. Away, a book she wrote prior to
The Underpainter, is one of my favourite books.
Last Monday Ms. Urquhart was a guest on The Next Chapter. On
the show, she disclosed that she crawled from book to book under a dark cloud
of self-doubt. I was surprised when I heard this prolific author say that she
consistently doubted her ability to produce a book—a doubt I share about my own
writing.
Ms. Urquhart also confessed that she never re-read past
work.
There is danger there—as I recently learnt when I re-read
some stories of my own. Will the old work measure up to my present standards?
Will it exceed it?
I’ve been writing since I was a pre-teen. I’ve been writing
about knitting since 2005.
It all started when my knitting pattern designer website
went live in 2002. My web designer, Monica Hogg, was a font of knowledge
regarding this new venture. Monica explained that I needed to create new
content for my site. Failing to do so would mean that my site would be buried
by the suffocating mass of sites that exist on the Internet, she told me.
Fearful of this outcome, I asked Monica to add a blog to my
site. On this blog I posted tutorials, personal essays and short stories. To my
surprise you did find me. Encouraged by your support, I continued to write.
Last February, overcome by the fear that I wouldn’t be able
produce another book, I was hit by an idea which felt like a semi trailer. I’ve already written another book.
I unearthed and steeled myself as I prepared to re-read my
collection of writing about knitting. Separating the cream from the milk took
courage; polishing the writing required work but I persevered. Then I surveyed
my collection of patterns—I choose the most popular and my favourites to
accompany my other writing. (Photos of some of these I’ve scattered throughout
this post).
In January 2011, upon the publication of The Sweater Curse,
I closed my knitwear design business.
Recently, I’ve received emails from knitters interested in
purchasing my patterns. Unfortunately, I was forced to tell them that the
patterns were no longer available because I’d closed my business.
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Next post: Please welcome Author Colleen Cross
