In stitches

A guest post by Jeanne Hewell-Chambers for the Creative Harvest series

Have you ever wanted to follow a writer through a typical day in her life? Have you ever wanted to sit beside her and say, “Tell me about how you write, where you write, why you write.”?

If you (like me) love stories about women’s process – if you (like me) are entertained with tales of how things like remembered bits and overhead conversations and unexpected detours on the way to the carwash and a stumped toe that turns out to be more than just a stumped toe come together to create something new and wonderful – if you (like me) find the creative process refreshing, rejuvenating, and replenishing, have I got something for you . . .

On July 1 I’m setting a digital kitchen table, and I’m inviting you to pull up a chair and join me as I (and sometimes we) weave threads of life, cloth, and story (with huge helpins’ of laughter, of course) to create a book.

What’s the story? Well, you need to pull a chair up to the table to hear that, but what I can tell you is that for years I’ve carried a story seed tucked inside this little ole’ bitty pocket. It’s a fictional story . . . or is it? What feeds fiction, anyway? Whee does it come from? We’ll just watch and see. It’s a story ready to be birthed, though, and that’s what I – what we – are gonna do at this digital kitchen table.

Why cloth? Maybe it’s because I come from a long line of quilters and seamstresses – maybe I just have cloth in my blood. All I know is that I love fiddling with cloth. I pick up scraps of cloth and weave then stitch them together (always working fast so my brain is noticeably late to the party). And as I weave and stitch, the cloth tells me things. Sometimes it introduces me to a character. Sometimes it tells me more about a familiar character. Sometimes it points me in a direction I never knew existed. I often call them my scrying cloths, but “muse” fits, too.

The life part? Well, you and I, we’re creative, so we know that everything that happens to and around us becomes grist for the mill. At this kitchen table, we’re just gonna pay attention to it, profile it and point to it. We’re gonna watch for how and where it shapes and enters the story and the journey.

Think of this kitchen table as the featured bonus pieces included with the movie on a dvd – only here you’ll enjoy the bonus pieces in real life, in real time. You’ll watch them happen as they happen – even the messy parts, the bloopers. You’re not just buying a book to take on vacation. Your price of admission includes a copy of the finished book AND access to its glorious (and sometimes less than glorious) creation. You’re buying the product AND the process. This kitchen table is the stage for an unscripted performance (with some audience involvement and participation – just you wait and see), and everybody takes home goodies at the end.

Oh, it’s gonna be so much fun – creating things always is. You really don’t want to miss it, and I really want you with me ’cause even though a gal needs to tuck in to create, she also needs community. We’ll learn from each other – it’s what we do. We’ll tell our stories and witness others, laughing and crying, creating and celebrating all along.

So how ’bout it? Will you join me at my table?

Say yes.

And hey, if you pull up your chair before midnight on June 30, you’ll receive a 10% discount. Let’s call it our Roots of She Early Bird Discount, shall we?

Jeanne, in her own words: .

Once dubbed a “wonder bra for the human spirit”, Jeanne is a complicated simple red dirt girl fluent only in English and Southern. She feels most beautiful when wearing earrings that dangle and skirts that caper.

Married long enough that the mere mention of her wedding anniversary sparks applause, Jeanne has survived two teenagers, a Cesarean delivery without anesthesia, a mugging on the sidewalks of New York, hanging wallpaper with her husband, and Christmas, 1993.

Though she’s received many awards and honors for her work as a professional speaker and community volunteer and though she has a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Master’s degree in Transformative Language Arts, Jeanne’s most proud of the fact that she’s never, ever had to attend a PTA meeting under an assumed name.

Connect: Website: Writing Cloth | Blog : The Barefoot Heart | Facebook | Twitter: @whollyjeanne