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erspective
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything."
- Rainer Maria Rilke
Over the course of the last several months, I have been called to cultivate patience in all aspects of my life: personally, professionally, and spiritually - as a parent, partner, friend, and artist. Patience is like gravity, and I know it is puling me toward some kind of truth or center.
With fingers crossed and mojos working, I am (deep
breath) finishing a book. Actually, it is finished;
the manuscript was delivered in the spring of this year,
but the editing process lingers. Though I know all parties
involved have the book's best interest at heart, it
is hard to be patient with the process, and to simply
" live" the experience. Hopefully, the manuscript
will soon be making its happy journey to the printer
by the end of summer.
Writing was an unmitigated joy. Designing was bliss, as it is always. The topic provided great soil for growing original ideas; good time was spent in the "lab" (so to speak), embarking on new color and shape adventures with each piece. The creative challenge was centering, satisfying, and, simultaneously, remarkably difficult. The photo shoot, at the time we did it, felt like the hardest thing I had ever done. I wore many hats during the shoot - art director, stylist, prop mistress, caterer, and, of course, author. The images are exquisite, the models are gorgeous, and there is a beautiful synergy between the topic, the imagery and the writing.
The post-partum process has proved to be for me, personally,
the most demanding part. Surrendering the manuscript
felt huge; dealing with getting it ready for publishing
has been bigger, and requires a daily practice of patience.
Editing, revising, tightening, letting go - all of these
qualities and more have been a part of the process since
delivering the manuscript. I have grown immensely and
hope I have become a better writer (and person) as a
result of this all-encompassing experience.
The virtue of patience will be realized in 2008, when Potter Craft/Random House releases the book. I trust the final version will convey the love I have for the topic, and that the designs offered will provide a unique and exciting experience to the knitting world. Watch this page for more information. When it is cool to really let the cat out of the bag about the book, I will.
I have always heard that having children tests one's
patience. Having now done both, raised kids and written
a book, I am here to say - writing a book, or rather,
publishing a book, takes the cake. My good friends and
trusted colleagues keep reassuring me that, once I am
holding that sleek, resolved, high-resolution final
copy of my labor in my hands, it will be like childbirth.
Despite screaming, "Cut this baby out of me!"
at the top of my lungs to my very patient midwife who
helped birth my daughters at home, a few moments after
each painful delivery (what a word), I said angelically,
"That wasn't so bad." The parallels are simply
unavoidable -so may writing, or birthing, a book find
me saying again, "That wasn't so bad."
I hope so, as I am now beginning the second book, due
in the spring of 2009. That's some gestation period
- and another opportunity to cultivate patience.
- Gina Wilde, Artistic & Creative Director, Alchemy
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