Want to know what me and Harper Lee have in common?

ByGnomeAngel

gnomeangel-book-announcement2

In Grade 12 I had an English teacher… let’s call him Mr Lemon. Mr Lemon and I had a rocky relationship. I thought I was the next Harper Lee and he thought… well let’s not get in to that, let’s just acknowledge that he thought I was never going to be a published author and didn’t mind telling me so. Now if he was a betting man it was looking pretty good there for awhile that he would have won some cold hard cash, but then a little thing called quilting entered my life and now it looks like ole Mr Lemon is going to have to eat his words.

You see, I’ve just become one of C&T Publishing‘s authors. Yep, you read that right, I’m going to have a book published.

Life is a many splendid thing and while I always thought I’d have a work of fiction or (don’t laugh) poetry published (and who says I won’t!) it turns out my first work is going to be all about quilting. I’m so thrilled and excited to be joining the amazing team at C&T Publishing. It’s amazing how many of the quilt books that I love and adore have been published by C&T Publishing and I’m honoured and a little awe-inspired that they’ve let me into those hallowed ranks.

The book is still a way off and I’ve got a lot of work to do in the next 6 months, but I’m so excited about it. Things are happening and changing and growing and it’s great to see all the hard work I’ve been doing starting to yield results. I want my son to grow up, like I did, knowing that hard work will help you realise your dreams – whatever they may be.

I’m not going to lie, we’re making a lot of sacrifices to get to this point and to pursue our family’s dreams. It’s been really hard work so far and as I sit here thinking about what’s coming up I feel overwhelmed, anxious, scared and a little crazy. I’m not completely sure how we’re going to get it all done and that’s a little scary. My family is my number one priority and so I’m conscious of not putting our relationships and quality time together in jeopardy just to achieve a goal. It’s no use getting where you want to go if you can’t enjoy the journey with those you love and you find yourself alone at the end of it all.

You only get one go at life and I plan on making sure that come what may our family lived it the best way we knew how and we chased down our dreams.  So with that in mind, I’d better get my butt off the computer and do some work. Fabric waits for no woman (or man)!

Have a fabulous day!

FUN THINGS TO CLICK ON

COMMUNITY CORK BOARD

  • If you are a “modern quilter” located in South Australia, please join this new facebook group where we are working to arrange regular sewing days and coffee meetups for members. Country members are very welcome, although currently we are only planning Adelaide meetups. Click here to join SA Modern Quilters.
  • Jackie Gillies (@jackiegillies) is asking those who can (and want to) to make and donate Tic Tac Toe blocks to help make quilts for women’s refuges in Australia. You can find out more by clicking here.

Want something included on the Community Cork Board, then why not drop me an email and if it’s applicable to the GnomeAngel community I’ll share it. It can be anything from a local fate, a charity raffle, a class you’re teaching, a pattern you’ve released, a sew-a-long you’re involved in to a community event that’s happening. Be sure to send me as much detail as you can and links to any applicable websites.  Click here to email me.

SPONSOR MESSAGES

Similar Posts

21 Comments

  2. Congrats! I had a teacher that said some not very nice things about me in HS. Turns out it only motivated me to push harder and be better to show her just how wrong she was!

    I can’t wait to see more about your book! TAKE THAT MR. LEMON!

  3. Congratulations! You definitely have earned this! You are obviously a great quilter and planner. Your organizational abilities, knowledge and experience has been evident to everyone who has been following your blog. Your strength in communication with all different forms of information has been demonstrated on a daily basis for an extended period, and with multiple personalities as you have launched this awesome year long Famer’s Wife quilt along !You Go For It – You Have Our Support, and You Have An Awesome Team! I am Very Happy For You, Your Team and Your Family. Congratulations to everyone!

  4. Congrats! I don’t know what your book will be about (I think quilting;-) bu I’m sure it’ll be great:-) And I hope your little gnome is on the cover!

  5. Congrats on the book deal! I just self-published “Monochromatic Quilts” available on Amazon. You are doing an amazing job of following your dreams with intention and balance. Thanks for sharing the journey with us!

  7. Congratulations, Angie! Wow! Wowzee wow wow! You have a book contract! That is so exciting! Yay! An author :). You should be rightfully proud!
    As for “Mr Lemon,” I wish I could squeeze his sour neck! I have been a High School English teacher and I hate it when I hear stories like this! Where does he get off, beating up other people’s dreams? What makes him feel like he knows everything? He makes teachers look bad and it just frustrates me. I’m there to help enable you to have the skills to fly off and go do whatever you want to do, fully equipped with all the tools that I have the skill to teach! Well, (sigh), maybe there’s something to be said about these types of “teachers.” They do at times fuel an angry motivation to succeed. But how many times do they just quash?
    Anyway, he didn’t squish you! You are a very talented writer who is about to write a book which I can’t wait to buy and read! Congratulations again, Angie! Woot woot!

    1. Thanks Beth. To be fair to Mr Lemon, I was a very challenging student (rather opinionated, always cracking jokes, thought I knew it all) who I’m sure pushed his buttons. And while I know he was the adult in the equation, he’s also a human and he reacted in the best way he knew how to. But I agree, it would be nice to encourage and not tear down.

      I think in life you get who you need when you need them and it’s up to us to choose how we respond to that. We can’t go through life blaming others for how things turn out. He was the teacher I needed to be taught the lessons he gave me (like how not to motivate me). I’m glad you’re a teacher that chooses to inspire and enable her students – you’re the teachers that give our future hope!

      Thanks for the good wishes. I’m excited for it all. Will be interesting to see how it all pans out. 🙂

  8. i am so happy and excited to see what you write about in your upcoming book. I love all that you do and greatly appreciate you being honest and putting your family first! You rock!!!

  9. Congrats, Angie! No one deserves this book deal more than you! I can’t wait to see your book! I know I’ll be getting one!!! So excited for ya!!

  10. This is fantastic news, I love your work and your blog so I’m going to wait patiently for your 1st published book. Congratulations Angie

    1. Thanks Lucy! If you want to move in and be my fabric cutter that would help immensely – I don’t know why but I’ve developed a real loathing for cutting lately. Might be all the tiny FW pieces!

Comments are closed.