Gini Athey is the award-winning author of the small-town women’s fiction series, The Shops on Wolf Creek Square, which includes Quilts Galore. The Quilt Company is the first in her new Briarwood Series. She quilts, gardens, writes, reads, and lives with her husband in a rural area west of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Learn more about Gini and her books at her website.
Write What You Know
Over the course of my life, I’ve delved into a variety of hobbies, pastimes, and occupations. I like to be busy, and I enjoy the challenging of mastering a new skill. After selling the small business I owned in 2004, I found myself with time to explore a new challenge—writing a novel.
According to one survey reported by The New York Times, 81 percent of Americans want to write a book. I was one of those people. But as I ventured into the publishing community, I discovered there is a huge difference between wanting to write a book and actually writing one.
Before I could begin putting the words on the page, I had to answer several questions to define my story.
· What would the story be about?
· Where would it be set?
· What themes would it include?
· Who would the primary protagonist(s) be?
Some of the questions were easier to answer than others, but then I considered the sage advice often given to aspiring authors: Write what you know.
Initially, that raised more questions than it answered.
· What did I know?
· What did I know that would intrigue and engage readers?
· What did I know that lent itself to the stories itching to spill from my fingertips onto the page?
I spent many hours pondering what I know and eventually came up with a list.
Quilting and crafts. I inherited my love of quilting, both making them and admiring them, from my grandmother. As a young girl, I spent hours and hours with her, carefully cutting fabric into blocks and assembling them into a quilt which very often became a cherished family heirloom.
Independent women entrepreneurs. For several years, I owned and operated a full-time business that distributed original designs for professional quilters. This company was a labor of love, yet my ambition motivated me to make it profitable and successful. I later went on to sell the company to another individual who shared my love of quilting.
Home and hearth. It’s exciting to visit the big city, but at heart, I’m a small-town girl. I like the slower pace of life in small towns, being surrounded by friends and family, and the sense of community that binds people together. Many of my stories include journeys home, finding home, or creating a home through shared values and experiences.
Nine books later, these elements still define the stories I write. If any of these themes resonant with you, I hope you’ll check out my books.
The Quilt Company
The Briarwood Series, Book 1
A big loss could tear a family apart, but does a big dream have the power to reunite them?
Deanna Westford may have lost her husband, but she’s determined not to lose her big dream along with him. A quilter with a flair for design, Deanna will do whatever it takes to transform her passion for quilting into a thriving business. She finds the perfect studio-condo location in a renovated factory building repurposed for businesses just like hers. Even better, she knows and trusts the builder, Paul Silverman. Paul is acquainted with loss himself, but that doesn’t stop him from becoming a generous friend and confidant for Deanna.
With three children in their twenties and on their own, Deanna assumes she can organize her life to please herself. She happily embraces the long hours it will take to establish her business. along with newfound friendships. But her best-laid plans don’t leave room for her kids’ complicated crises, which bring extra demands just when her company needs her the most.
Deanna—and her children—soon discover that disasters sometimes offer great opportunities. Deanna must waste no time deciding what she’s willing to risk.
Buy Links
2 comments:
Thanks so much for sharing my books and passion to quilting with your readers!
You're welcome, Gini!
Post a Comment