Deborah Cooke: Author

It’s been quiet here on the blog, but since some of you are becoming concerned, I thought it time for an update.

The main reason I haven’t been posting is an obvious one – there isn’t much news. We’re in that eye-of-the-hurricane between release dates when there isn’t much to share. There’s a lot going on, but you could think of it as intermission – people are busily changing costumes and switching out the scenery, while the audience has time to have a drink or a stretch. In publishing terms, we’ve seen the covers for the upcoming books and the excerpts are up on the website. I’ve been booking a blog tour for the spring, but there won’t be much news until the reviews start coming in. That’ll be a few months yet.

The second reason – maybe this is really the main reason! – that I haven’t posted much is that I’ve been writing.  A lot. It’s a pretty intense creative phase for me. Again, this isn’t very interesting to the outside observer, although I’m having a wonderful time. My day goes like this:

*Caffeinate, shower, write, eat, write, eat, write, walk, write, read/research, eat, knit/play with string, sleep. Repeat from *.

I haven’t even been finishing many knitting projects – the problem with writing a lot is that I also seem to cast on a lot, so there are loaded needles everywhere. Those items that have gotten finished are gifts, thus not to be shown to the world at large.

Probably the most interesting thing going on, other than writing, is that I bought one of those “dye your own sock blank” kits. The problem with dye is that it’s really fun. There’s just enough uncertainty about results that it’s addictive. Or maybe I love it because I love colour so much. Once you colour what you have (i.e. the sock blank) you start looking around for alternatives. One of the sources of possibilities I discovered was my stash – I’ve been over-dyeing natural fibres in colours I don’t like. This is slightly more unpredictable, which is what I like about it, plus there’s nothing to lose if I don’t already like the yarn. And it’s the perfect thing to do while writing because it isn’t very labour intensive – we can add a variant like this to my day:

*Caffeinate, shower, write, eat, load crock pot with yarn and dye, write, eat, write, walk, write, rinse yarn, hang yarn to dry, research/read, etc.

Maybe I’ll show you some of those colour experiments soon. I’ll have to think of a way to do it that isn’t boring! Until then, keep reading and I’ll keep writing!