I met another writer the other day -- Karin Gutman. We decided that we would become friends. I went to visit her blog (we don't live near each other, so this is kind of like visiting her house, and seeing what's on the walls, and what kinds of books she has on her shelf) and I was dumbfounded to see this blog entry about the parallels between storytelling and quilting. My new novel has characters who are obsessed with fabric and quilting, and I am not. I was wondering why they had captured my attention to such an extent, and Karin's blog post provided me with an answer. That's the kind of serendipity I adore -- and I consider it a neon sign of affirmation that I just told the story I was meant to tell.





- A quilt takes months.

- A story takes months.





- You choose a pattern, something formal or an idea to cobble together.

- You choose a theme, ideas that you will piece together.-





- You try to think how much fabric you will need…

- You try to think how much material you will need and how long your story will be.





- Cut out fabric into required pieces…

- Write out the material into required blocks of text. You can fill in the gaps later.





- Fit these [blocks of fabric] together in an agreeable way…

- Fit these blocks of text together in an agreeable way.





- Baste together with big stitches…

- Baste your writing together with rough transitions.





- Then you can quilt.

- Then you can draft and re-draft.





- Make the tiny stitches which draw the layers together and create texture.

- Make tiny edits which draw the layers together and create texture.





- Then be sure to share your creation with others.

- Hang up your writing, share it with everyone who will listen.





Authored by Kari-Lynn Winters; inspired by Theresa Kishkan's book Phantom Limb