Welcome to What Are You Working On? where we talk about (and often display) our handiwork, whether yarn and fabric crafts, woodwork, metalwork, art, or anything else “crafty”.
Schedule
November 24 — taking off for my birthday :)
December 1 — userexists
December 8 — ynohtnA
December 15 — open
Is writing a craft or an art? I have to say I don’t much care. It is one of my hobbies, along with quilting and embroidery. I have self-published 6 books.
A few observations on writing. Why would someone write? There are many reasons, but for me, it is because there are stories I want to tell, ideas I wanted to explore. In my book, Pixies, Passages and Possibilities, there are seven ideas that I wanted to explore. One that I like the best, is the novella that deals with an old woman finding she is much more useful that others might think. Most of the stories in that book are upbeat, but not all of them. The darkest one carries the concept of women as simply incubators to what I hope is an impossible extreme. I wrote that story 15 years ago. Times have changed.
In my main series, Mrs. O’Leary’s Boarding House, I wondered about a woman supporting herself in 19th C Chicago by running a boarding house for aliens. Pays much betters than humans do. How would that work out though? I have 3 books in that series and am working on the fourth. It explores some of the concepts of the restrictions on women in that time and how they circumvent them.
My second series deals with two elderly women who are the most powerful witches in the world and work to save humanity from the dragons in the next dimension. The dragons really like the taste of humans. The ladies also make lovely quilts. My main concept here is instead of having the young, gorgeous kickass heroine, you have two arthritic old ladies and their cat, who is really something special. I have two books in that series.
What is the point of all of this? Many people are told to write what they know. My books have nothing to do with ‘write what you know’, but rather writing what interests me, as well as exploring some human concepts and redefining them, or defying them. I did have a grandmother who ran a boarding house in early twentieth C. Everything else, though, is imagination.
Self-publishing is not hard. If anyone wants advice on how it is done, I would be glad to help. Truthfully, I find it odd that my Mrs. O’Leary Boarding House books are still selling decently and I haven’t written a new one in four years. The fourth book won’t likely be out for another year, sad to say.
Also I’d like to add that writing, as well as reading, is useful in dropping you into another world when this one isn’t, um, so great. I’m not putting links in for all my books as this isn’t meant as a sales pitch, but you can find them via the titles and last name of Halsey.
I would recommend everyone try writing. Create worlds that are fun for you, even if it is just for yourself. Write a story about the bunny next door, or about some kick ass woman pirate, or whatever. It doesn’t have to be good; it’s just for you. And if you think it is good, self-publish the book and see what others think. You could be pleasantly surprised.
As always: What Are You Working On?
