Writers Wanted

Look for this project in the upcoming issue of Spin-Off magazine as part of their handspun feature of my Spaced Out and Felted Scarf in our Winter 2008 Schacht On-Line Newsletter and subsequent interpretation in a handspun yarn on Ravelry. The yarn was spun in an evening with my office mates: Gail Matthews, Stephanie Flynn-Sokolov, and Melissa Ludden. Warping took about an hour and weaving two evenings after work.

I hereby kindly and respectfully request that you work at getting published. We are in a terrible weaving book drought and we need books (but also magazine articles, too). We need project books that inspire. A book might be focused on a technique, for example, but be illustrated with projects. Think of a book on lace knitting when you think of a book on lace weaving.

Writing a book can be intense and stressful: The deadline is looming. From my personal experience, though, it is highly rewarding. Not from fame and fortune (don’t expect it), but from the joy and challenge that comes from discovery, pushing your designing and writing skills, as well as the other opportunities writing a book affords you: teaching, travel, TV, other articles. Like it or not, being a book author gives what you do an added legitimacy.

If you’ve never designed or written for publication, I suggest that you first try writing some magazine articles. This way you’ll understand how to design and write for an audience, what its like to work with an editor, and how it feels to see your work in print.

Before beginning, it is wise to study the magazine you want your work to appear in, as well as get a copy of their writer’s guidelines and what they pay. A good way to test the waters is to look for a call for submissions, a special contest, gallery to which you might contribute for practice.

Where to submit? For weaving projects with instructions, the choices in the US are almost exclusively Handwoven and the new on-line magazine, Weavezine. I love the Swedish magazine Vav, but you’ll need to be sure your designs have a Scandinavian aesthetic. I encourage you to reach out to non-weaving venues and submit simple projects. The recent Craft magazine is a case in point, but also what about Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart, and Living Craft? Like seeing knitting everywhere, that’s where I want to see weaving go…