The Threads of Story
Plans to write a book or to create an embroidered tapestry begin in my imagination, as scrambled words and tangled threads.
Currently, I’m gathering an assortment of colorful threads from my life’s story as I harvest my journals, seeking the most meaningful entries to express my spiritual journey. I liken my journal entries to threads, because I’m not only a collector of words but also a collector of all things pertaining to fiber and stitching.
To my mind writing a book, like the one I’m currently working on, is akin to weaving a tapestry or slow stitching an embroidered cloth. Word by word, stitch by stitch, with patience and perseverance the work at hand begins to embody a life of its own.
Creating is a process of becoming. There’s an invitation within every occasion as I set out to write or stitch. Each time I pick up my pen or needle and thread, I’m invited to learn something new about the process and also something true about myself .
Through the years I’ve learned that my perfectionism is constantly present as a task master, often demanding that I begin again…and again…and yet again. I’ve also come to know that the words more readily form on the page early in the day, rather than late at night. It’s the same with stitching. Over the years, the writing and stitching have informed me that I’m definitely a morning person when it comes to creating.
Once the work, be it words or stitches, is truly underway I enter the flow. I find my rhythm and cadence. Of course there are the moments when distraction in the form of daily “to dos” pulls me from my focus.
Interruptions and pauses are plentiful. Procrastination is always lurking nearby in her many disguises.
When at last I’ve responded to emails, folded the laundry, finished the errands, and eaten some chocolate, I’m ready to return to my work. However, the re-entry to writing or stitching can be tenuous and if it happens to be late in the day I discern it’s best to wait until tomorrow “…when I’m fresh.”
Eventually, when the stars align and I’ve moved beyond my doubts, unending procrastination, and false starts…I turn the corner towards the proverbial “home stretch.” The work is coming to completion, the book or tapestry is at last in the final stages. It’s always then, just as I’m about to exhale and cross the finish line that out of the ethers, the awaiting next book or tapestry, makes a grand entrance to my imagination and once again the planning begins.