Knit Together

Mystic Moonlight Daylily

All right, Creative Souls, listen up!

Need a good read? Like knitting? Got a dream--especially a secret, passionate, impossible dream?

Knit Together-Discover God's Pattern for Your Life by Debbie Macomber is a wonderful book I finished reading over the weekend.

Terrific!

If you have ever had a dream that you didn't think would come true, read this book. If you've ever had a dream that someone else stomped on, read this book. If you want to be inspired to dream big dreams, read this book.

Debbie Macomber is one of my favorite fiction authors. She appears regularly on the New York Time's Bestseller list. She's won RITA awards and was the first ever recipient of the Quill Award for romance fiction. That's all well and good because it shows I can pick fine authors when I find them. Ms Macomber's characters are sweet, funny, and real, like people you live next door to or work with--even the quirky ones. They have a moral and ethical fiber that I appreciate. (No, her characters do not sleep together before marriage. How cool is that in today's romance market?)

Now in her first foray into non-fiction, Ms. Macomber, an avid knitter, hits a homerun in revealing her struggles and successes in following the dreams God instilled in her heart. The pleasure she finds in creating with yarn, as well as words, also threads it's way through the book. The story of an editor telling a hopeful writer Macomber to throw her manuscript away made tears come to my eyes. Eventually that manuscript, Heartsong, would be published and featured on Good Morning, America. Which proves that editors, like baseball umpires, are not right all the time. I wonder if that editor still has a job in publishing?

If you are looking for a delightful read about finding the pattern God created for your life, whether you want to write or be the CEO of a major corporation or be the best mom you can be, please pick up this book. See my sidebar, I'm featuring it as my book of the month for June. You'll be blessed in reading it.

Personally, I'm thrilled that Debbie Macomber and God worked together to create a book I needed to read to get me back on track. It's like a personal letter to me. Isn't God wonderful to go to all that trouble?

Flashes of Inspiration

I love dreaming new ideas. This morning, in that lovely drift between sleep and wakefulness, I had a flash of inspiration.

Tapestry.

Yes, tapestry. Yesterday, while out shopping for Christmas gifts, I happened upon a display of tapestry fabrics. Since our days in Belgium, I've had a fondness for all things tapestry. Specifically Belgian, of course. I love the designs, the muted colors, the sense of history from a piece of tapestry. And tapestry is not ever frou-frou. I'm rarely a frou-frou person. (My mother tried.)

The collection I saw yesterday didn't qualify as the expensive Belgian stuff, but I pondered whether I could make a new Bible cover from one of the designs. (Which would mean taking apart the cover I currently have in order to use it as a pattern.) Because it is the Christmas season, I passed on buying any, but must have tucked the thought into my mind. This morning I woke to realize how perfect some of that tapestry fabric would look as window treatments in our living room.

I could see them as clear as I see this computer screen. Just the right weight for the space. Good colors. The project is still going to have to wait until the Christmas season winds down, but...wow! It was fun to have that flash.

I've done that writing, too. Waking up and knowing something new about my characters or plot.

Or an entirely new story.

It has occasionally happened with photography and business decisions, as well. It's enough to make your heart race or skin sizzle.

Try going to sleep with a project in mind for the next few days. See if your mind comes up with something fresh and amazing while you snooze. At the very least, lay quiet and thoughtful in those first waking moments to see what wisps of inspiration linger from your mind's night's work. Maybe nothing useful, but it is good to practice listening to your heart. Capture any worthy thoughts in your notebook for further consideration. Then, on a day when you feel creatively dry, page through your notebook for ideas.

I hope your days (and nights) are filled with flashes of inspiration and and lightning bolts of creativity.