I started a website as a way to share my writing. The home page has a significant scene from my first novel. I tossed in some poetry. This is where I hope to someday share my excitement about selling by book. And in the future, maybe chapters of my next novel. Sadly, it’s not finished yet, but one thing at a time.
My goal is to write everyday, but like eating right and exercising, I miss an occasional day. Well, let’s not go there. Some days I watch British Mysteries on BritBox. (Midsomer Murders, yay!). I do crossword puzzles because they’re good for writers. But mostly I knit.
I started knitting a long time ago. when the woman I was working for sat and knitted during a meeting. After watching for a while, I asked her if she would show me how to do it. Within five minutes I was holding a pair of needles and a skein of yarn. She showed me how to cast on, and sent me off to practice.
The next day I came back with something that resembled a knitted scarf in no way at all. She pulled it out and I started again. This continued for about a week until I created a four-foot scarf. I needed to be shown how to bind off. It was not a thing of beauty, but it was a start. I returned the borrowed needles and bought my own. I started buying what was to become a yarn stash the size of which my husband still doesn’t know. (Yarn squishes in everywhere.)
I fell in love. I bought more needles. I acquired many, many patterns. After scarves, I went to socks. They are small and travel well. I carried a project bag with me. Some knitters can walk and knit, but I can’t. I need to at least lean against something. Knitting in the car can be problematic. I knit socks using what are called double pointed needles, and they are pretty sharp. Also small. Fall on them and puncture an organ. Drop one in the car and kiss it goodbye.
As I live in Northern California, I started attending an annual yarn gathering called Stitches West. It happens every February, although talking about starts immediately after the previous one ends. It’s held in a conference-sized building and is four days of yarn chaos. I believe the attendance could run about 30,000 people. Don’t ask me, I was looking at the yarn.
Everything a knitter, crocheter, quilter, etc. could want is in that building. The sound level goes off the chart. We go inside and fall on the yarn. You think I’m kidding? Well, we do smell the yarn. After a few years, we get to know the owners, and greet them like friends.
When I started to write more, often hours a day, I had to cut back on my knitting habit. Now that I am resting my novel in order to query it, I am spending a bit more time with it. Several of the agents to whom I sent queries said on their sites that it might take up to eight weeks to respond. I’ll do more Querying, and work on my next novel, and I just might knit.