One Hour Craft – The Book! And more big dreams!!!
I am here to spill the beans on my secret. I have just completed all the initial work for my first book One Hour Craft and my publisher has received all of it!
What a mammoth task writing a book is. Now there is a whole team of people in London who takes the text and photos I have sent and works their magic into an incredible craft book – with loads of photo tutorials. And there is editing to be done. Proof sheets will be sent back and forth between here and London until we are all happy with the final copy. Now is the exciting part. In the next year my raw material will be edited, collated, improved, printed, bound and distributed and put on the shelves of many book stores. Hopefully to sell a bazillion copies!!!
One Hour Craft, will be published this time next year! The whole journey has already been amazing. It took me about six months to come to the terms with the fact that a large publisher in London approached me and paid me to write a book – I had never heard of that before. I thought it was too good to be true until I received a contract in the mail along with a huge package containing eight of their most recent art books in it. There was much lounge room dancing and whooping, chez moi.
It has been my desire to be a published author since I was eight years old or earlier. When I won a writing award for my story, “A trip to fairyland” in year two, I knew that was what I wanted to do. Then I went on to study creative writing at UWA and was lucky enough to have a professor who thought I was a real up and coming writer. Then I worked in PR where I was able to use my writing skills every day. Then I became an English teacher – and wondered how my life had turned out so terribly! I had no desire to teach others to write, I just wanted to write myself.
When I started my first blog three years ago, Mia’s Cloud (some of you will remember it), I just wanted to write and write and write. There was nothing else on my mind. That lead to this site where I see myself as a designer and artisan, but moreso a writer. This site has lead me to so many opportunities. In the past year, I have obtained a book deal, written a book, and written articles for magazines in New York. It has been an amazing ride.
Talking to Rachael last night over a cup of hot chocolate and chamomile tea, I talked about my passion for writing, and was surprised when tears welled up in my eyes. I told her about the children’s picture books I have written, and edited with a very well-known Australian author.
I told her about the characters I had created for this book and how they have now gone to bed with me at night and woken up with me in the morning for nine years. They have come to my daughter’s parties, they have been rollerblading with us around the river and they have been to the beach with us, jumpign small waves with ice cream dripping down their chins. Rachael asked why I hadn’t tried to get these published yet. And I became even more teary when I realised that these sweet little characters had been so close to me I hadn’t been ready to share them with anyone.
But I am now ready to share my friends with the world. Now I have finally decided. My next project is to get my children’s picture books published. After this I would like to have them made into a children’s animation. And there may be some more craft, sewing or jewellery books coming your way in the next few years.
At this point, I am more than thrilled to have as ISBN number and am really looking forward to One Hour Craft hitting the shelves. I believe that hard work does make your dreams come true.
To the readers of this blog I must thank you for your patience. My head has been so full of craftiness and my hands have been so busy making things, taking photos and writing, I feel I have neglected you. You see, I wanted my very best ideas to be in the book so that it is something I am really proud of, when it is published. This has left little time to design other things and no time for publishing other tutorials on this blog. But now, I have some more head space I have some lovely treats coming your way!
Thanks for your continued support of me joyfully and passionately following my dreams!
Love Mia
xxx
Back Down to Earth – But For How Long?
I have come off the year-long adreline high I have been on and after falling into a slight heap (only slight as I am still working full-time, single mothering, running a household, running a website, caring for two animals and maintaining a social life) I am feeling back to normal. Well, that is if you consider dancing around the house at ten o’clock at night to Amy Winehouse and talking in my best cockney accent – normal??? Tried to make me go to rehab but I said No NO NO!! I remember checking a few times to make sure there were no gaps in the curtains. It is a fear of mine that neighbours will see my odd antics on occasions and think I am really a cup full of crazy!!
Anyway, that is normal for me! And I have noticed I am happily forgetting things again, being slack, driving slowly, whistling loudly, humming, flicking through magazines, snuggling into my bed early at night with a good book and – yes – relaxing….I remember wondering a month ago if I had forgotten the art of the great relax forever or if I would rediscover it.
And there’s been good food too. I am the clever and conscientious mama who went to the markets last week and bought five boxes of fruit and veg (yeah, halves is for wimps). I made a sweet potato soup, roast chicken dinner, beef bourgignon. What a lovely week of cooking. Wait, that’s not all … Cleaning too. My house had been taken over by craft stuff. The lounge was jammed with fabrics and sewing things, the dining room was no longer a place to eat but packed with everything for making anything – paper clay, hot glue guns, beads, silver wire, sewing machine. My sewing room was filled with so much it was hard to make it to the computer. I can now proudly say that, once again, and much to my little family’s relief, we now live in a home again and not a sewing, jewellery studio.
Did I ever tell you that I am a project person? For me everything needs to be a project. Mundane every day things are a little harder but when something is a project I work like a Trojan to get it done. Packed away. Finished.
*Slapping my hands together* The relaxation project is finished, the house project is done, the reconnecting with the people I love project is still underway — and what next. I am really keen to work with other crafty people on the Net at this point. I feel the desire for connection, for collaboration. So, I have been talking to the lovely Rachael, and some others to see what I can come up with..
Will keep you posted….
Mia
xxx
On Becoming a Creative Entrepreneur (Part One)
I sometimes wonder what I am at the moment. Am I an artist, designer, writer, jeweller, textile artist? I suppose the best title I can come up with is a creative entrepreneur. I am someone who is trying to make creativity a career.
There is a huge jump between having a creative hobby and then making it a source of income, and desperately trying to build it into a money maker. The biggest difference for me, is the fun factor. When making for fun, I often create on a whim. When the idea hits me I will sit down, draw a few sketches and then make a prototype or two. Or three. There is no rush and no stress involved.
But if I need to make something to a deadline or write an article with a nearing deadline, often the fun factor just disappears. It is replaced with perfectionism and a drive to succeed. If I am working to a looming deadline, I become a little growly (my man might say more than a little) and expect those helping me to be on the same plane and work at the same gruelling, manic pace. My inner critic goes to work overtime.
I remember seeing a documentary about extraordinary Australian fashion designer Collette Dinnigan and her first show in Paris. In much of the footage, she was backstage yelling at people, throwing her arms in the air. I felt for her. I felt for all that she was putting into it, and all that she was wanting back. I understood the passion and the pain. I understood the need to ‘make it’, to prove that she would be able to get her label onto the world stage.
This frustration level I feel, the lack of sleep it causes me, the nail-biting and the intense pace I need to work at, sometimes makes me to think, “what the heck am I doing, why don’t I just go back to making cushions for my couch or writing a poem for my own enjoyment?”
The one thing that really keeps me going during times of frustration, guilt and doubt is a total belief that I was put on this earth to create, to write, to design, to make things. When I look through my crystal ball, this is where I see my future.
My goal is to make a VERY good living, being creative and sharing that with others in many ways. But I am definitely in a place where I am working out how to better channel the stress of creating for money, how to minimise the impact on my family and how to know when to take time off for me. I need more lessons in saying No, asking for help and chilling out.
When all is said and done, I would rather be a creative entrepreneur than anything else in the world. And I suppose it takes that sort of passion to keep you going, really.
(Ahem – At this point I would ask for thoughts and comments but my comments won’t be up and running until my site re-launch. In the meantime I am really loving your emails. Thanks so much!)
Mia
xxx
Big Dreams, Little Girl
After having nearly completed one of my life’s dreams, I have spent the last week thinking about what the next dream is and about dreams in general.
I haven’t come up with which dream to turn into a goal next but I have had some insight in the past year into realising dreams and the reality of them.
I have learnt…..
Dreams change as your life changes and it is sometimes a really great experience to let some go. It can free you up for new dreams or even for new experiences in life.
Dreams can cost a lot to fulfil. Sometimes the cost can be too high. If the cost for your dreams is letting go of a relationship that is important to you, this may be too high?
Some dreams are better left as dreams and not fulfilled. The daydream is sometimes better and more fulfilling than the reality of them.
Dreams are vital to our life, fulfilling them is not necessarily vital to our wellbeing.
We shouldn’t be a slave to our dreams. Life is about living. The joy will always be in the small moments. The most happiness is found in a big hug from a little child, a kind word from a parent, a great tasting chocolate muffin, a big bowl of stew on a cold winter’s night.
Dreams are free and plentiful and lovely and luxurious and they can never be taken from you…
Well, all this pondering about dreams aside, I still feel like a little girl with big dreams. My dreams have always been much bigger than me. They are vivid, bold, way beyond me, lively, happy – and I wonder which to go for next?
Mia
PS I have so many posts that I have never published, the next few weeks will be filled with a huge backlog of these posts. I hope you enjoy them.
xxx
Hermes Paper Kelly Bag Template
I love the little paper Kelly handbags from Hermes! Visit their site to download these for free. We have a birthday in a few months and I am definitely going to make these for the lolly bags. So cute. Nice to see that even the fashion houses understand the power of giving something away for free. One of the many things I love about the Internet – the freebie.
And, hello everyone. Yes. We are officially back in action. With lots of lovely treats and projects coming your way. We will be getting the monthly craft challenge back on track and plenty more. There will be a site relaunch in July. So happy to have the free time to re-connect with you all. Thanks for the well wishes while we were so busy!
Miaxx
