People in America without regular paychecks often call themselves creatives. All creatives live with an underlying fear that people will stop following and supporting them, and that will ruin them financially and emotionally. It doesn’t do for creatives to relax.

Maria asked me to look at the new quilt under construction, and I sensed she was anxious and uncertain about it. This is the same way I feel whenever I write something – nobody will read it, nobody will like it.

“Something wrong?” I asked. “No,” she insisted. It’s just that this quilt is different from my others.” And yes, I thought, she was a bit anxious about it. 

I have the same problem. Even though I’ve been writing for more than half a century, I still wake up feeling like nobody is reading what I write, or it’s not as good as I hoped. Or it’s no good at all.

I have good Maria radar, and I can sense it when she reaches the inevitable conclusion that people may not like something she made because it is different.  I know it by heart. It’s a ritual for both of us. We never think everyone will like anything.

Maria is finishing a quilt, and she says it is different from the other quilts she made.  She’s not sure what she means, but I think everyone will like it.  I’m not detached, but I love this quilt’s color and how it feels. It’s so very much alive.

Like most good artists, Maria never takes her work for granted; poverty and rejection are always around the corner. No weekly paychecks or fat IRAS are waiting for us.

But I can’t remember a time when Maria didn’t sell something she created, often because they are different from one another.

It’s the ritual of the creative – never relax and take anything for granted, except the worst, and live for the best. Check it out. She’s writing about it on her website, Full Moon Fiber Art.

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Her own comments about it on her website: fullmoonfiberart.com.

“It isn’t all sewn together yet; the outermost border is still in the works.  But my Bold and Unpredictable quilt is almost complete.” [email protected].[email protected]