Publishing My First Book On Kindle

I took the cover photo at Kolkata flower market

It's taken me 10 months but I've finally managed to self-publish my first book. It's a 'travelogue' which is basically a diary/memoir style piece based on a month off that I took last December. I wrote most of it while I travelling, in the evenings, and on public transport.

Writing on a long train  journey through West Bengal

I planned to come back to the UK, spend January editing it and then publish it in February. But real life set in and it never happened. Fitting the editing side in with my day job and other commitments was really tough and I found myself disconnecting from it. Eventually I got stuck in again but that was just the beginning. 

Sunset in Kathmandu

Next came the preparing the file for Kindle part (it's only available as a digital read on Kindle for the moment, I may extend it to other digital readers and possibly print on demand paperback but I'm not sure yet.) 

This involved another few months. I looked at endless on-line tutorials and even enrolled on a four day course called 'How To Publish Your First E-Book.' But came away none the wiser, in fact it confused me even more.

Children at Darjeeling Train Station

Eventually I settled on the simplest conversion which is creating it on word, inserting some images then converting it to a html file (instructions for how to do this can be found on the Kindle Self-Publishing site. Why I didn't do that to start with I'll never know!

For complicated booked other processes would be required but as I say, for simple text and pictures it's straight forward enough, the secret lies in the formatting which happens in the word file. 

Traditional Naksha Buti weaviing in Tangali, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The book is written in the first person as that's how I've always written my diaries. One of the main reasons I wrote it is that before I went away, and while I was away, I really enjoyed reading other people's self-published travelogues. They are far more interesting than reading travel guides. 

But looking back at it now, when I dip into it on my Kindle the trip becomes so vivid, I feel like I would have forgotten so many things. Even just looking at the photographs isn't enough as they only form half a memory. Writing provides a more real picture.

The book costs £3 (I only get £1 of that!), I'm not expecting to sell many copies but I hope that anyone who is travelling to India, Nepal or Bangladesh will consider purchasing it for inspiration or if you simply fancy a read that's a bit different you'll take your chances.

The first chapter of the book (sample chapter) is available to read for FREE here. If you've got five minutes, have a browse.

Street Style at the High Tea Tweed Wool House Closing Party

'It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on.'

These were the opening words of Guy from Dashing Tweeds who addressed a room full of tweed clad guests at a special High Tea Tweed Party to mark the closing of the Wool House exhibition that's been organised by the Campaign For Wool, held at Somerset House for the last 12 days.
High Tea?

Well....there were yummy sandwiches...I re-discovered my love for cress...

and not just any old macaroon...typically tweed coloured macaroons in brown, beige and green.

So, who was in attendance? A room full of tweed fans!
This colourful couple co-ordinated so well. The gentleman confessed that although he was wearing a great tweed jacket, he has quite a collection at home and had wished he had opted for a different one while the lovely lady with him got her tweed jacket yesterday in a charity shop. It's lucky she did: there was a very strict dress policy....no tweed: no entry.

 

This is how you do tweed infused country chic in the city. Great cap.

I also had the pleasure of meeting David Evans aka Grey Fox who is on a mission to discover fashion and style for older men. He's fascinated by how they choose to dress and blogs about the subject. He also photographed me and my Harris Tweed bag. In fact you can see more photos on his blog of the party here.

I love the very different style of these jackets..but both are tweed. The lady on the right was wearing amazing tweed shorts too and had a toddler with her who was wearing a really cute tweed baby dress.

Now here's the kind of smart and happy chap I wish I could see more often. Dapper from head to toe.

A classic tweed two piece with a pleated skirt, this is the kind of Sunday best look that more women should strive for.

Here's a man who knows a thing or two about tweed and style. He's one of the proprieters of Earl of Bedlam, a South London based fashion label that create bespoke tailoring and screen prints.

95% of the room (100 people) had the usual brown themed tweeds on..but not this girl on the right! She had a fab, blue tweed jacket with gorgeous tartan lining.

This lady slipped into my photos...I'm not sure what tweed she was wearing but she had fab glasses on.

Showing that tweed is not just about smart suits, this fashionista opted for a tweed mini skirt teamed with a wonderful crocheted cape she found for 50 cents in a charity shop. Bargain alert!

Matt Ponting, grandson of Kenneth Ponting, a famous woollen mill owner and writer is photographed here with  bottle of finest tweed whisky, the tipple of the party. Ken wrote numerous books about textiles including Sheep of The World. And an interesting fact about Matt's very smart tweed jacket, he found it on the pavement. It was laid out in front of him one day as he walked passed (not dropped, someone had arranged it beautffully making it look inviting), he tried it on and it fit perfectly so he gave it a home. As you do.

It was also a real pleasure to meet tweed super fan Nina Head. Nina embraces tweed in her every day life and believes more people should wear it, especially city workers. She customised her tweed jacket with some gorgeous animal brooches made from tweed....one of which (the very happy cat I'm wearing) she gave to me as a gift.

They are handmade by Andrew Duncan Graham who sells them on Thursdays and Fridays in Spitalfields Market London. Look out for them if you are passing that way. It's an easy way to incorporate tweed into your life if you don't think you can wear a whole garment.

I didn't manage to photograph Nadia's yellow tweed trousers so here's another picture of her with her tweed cap and bear.

In Guy's speech he talked about the fun associated with wearing tweed, how he discovered it and how he and designer/weaver Kirsty have launched their own modern tweed label, suitable for the urban city dweller - changing the notion that tweed is a rural tradition. 

Check out some of their modern tweed cloths on their website.

On show at Wool House was one of Guy's ideas - creating cycling wear made from tweed, and even tweed with reflective yarns.

Elsewhere in the house, I particularly liked this reconstruction of a Saville Row tailor's shop, you can see the tweed sample books at the front which gentlemen flicked through to choose the type they want for their suits.

Or if you can't afford an entire bespoke suit you could opt for an accessory like tweed headphones by Conran.

How amazing are these boots by Vivienne Westwood? They were definately made for walking in. Not sure if they are strictly tweed but they are patchwork so may have had a tweed patch on them. Regardless, they deserved a mention.

Now this is my kind of tweed. Sadly it doesn't show up well in my photo but there were three samples of shimmering, sparkling blingtastic tweeds encrusted with Swarovski crystals by Dashing Tweeds. Just what we need for the current arctic climate we're in. The good news is Dashing Tweeds sell remnants and offcuts of their tweed ... maybe I could get a bit and make something super special like a DIY Couture cloak?

After High Tea - which was the perfect way to spend a Sunday; meeting tweed fans whilst taking tea, I had a chance to look around the rest of the incredible exhibition:

The best I've seen in a while. I particularly loved how it was about wool but not knitting. 
This was wool in all it's forms, with infinate uses.

There were some gorgeous interiors installations showing how wool can be used as an interiors fabric.
Well it was a wool house...

This HUGE room was designed by Kit Kemp MBE who is Design Director at Firmdale Hotels.

My favourite however was this felt wall by Anne Kyyro-Quinn. Felt is one of my favourite craft materials but it's usually seen on the small scale in the craft world - to see it used in such a unique way got me really excited. I want a felt room too!

Oh...and this woolly mammoth sofa by Amy Somerville...made from Mongolian Longhaired Sheep... I tried and failed to find a photo of one. 

Sadly Google led me to long haired bovine instead so I'll have to imagine what they look like.

Such a shame the exhibition was only on for 12 days. 

I'm so pleased I went, I'm going to remember it for a long time.

Wool House by The Campaign For Wool took place at Somerset House 13-24 March 2013. 

If you enjoyed this post - check out more about people who love tweed on Lady Velo's Tweed Run blog post.

Mastercrafts - my thoughts!

On Friday night I invited some friends over for a Mastercrafts party to watch the tears and tangles I got myself in to on the show! Capturing seven weeks of filming into one hour of television was always going to be a difficult task but they had to edit it, and in the same way, here are my edited thoughts!

Firstly my final piece above. We were given a choice of 16 colours of yarn to choose from and remarkably we all opted for different colour schemes. Although I stuck with my signature bold brights, on close inspection I also put in some more subtle greys to break up the 'jewel' inspired colour scheme. We had just seven days to weave our fabric, I spend five of those setting up the loom, they were extremely testing times and at one point I came very close to giving up but I stuck with it!

Our previous task was to weave a product to sell at the Hereford Crafts Fair, I made two silk laptop cases with yarns I had hand dyed in my own colours and used the scraps to make handwoven greeting cards.

I was very sad that in his voiceover Monty said that Holly was the only person who sold something at the fair, I sold two cards....so what Monty said was a total LIE : (

It took me two days to warp wind 6 metres of yarn to make my final piece. This was done outdoors, it may look sunny but it was freezing cold - we filmed the show in October and November and what's more I was all alone while others were snug indoors!

Ironing and steaming the final fabrics was an essential part of finishing off the woven fabrics.

My laptop cases were inspired by the gorgeous natural Autumnal shades that were all around me. Aubergine, mustard, oranges, browns ........it was the first time I'd ever seen the proper beauty of Autumn, in London it doesn't happen this way, leaves seem to fall off trees overnight but in the countryside I saw the changes over the whole season.

The yarns on the chair are the ones I hand dyed, I mixed these with some of the many lovely colourful yarns we had in our studio.

To inspire me I created lots of mood boards and surrounded myself in colours. Rather than being dictated to by a set pattern I did my own form of 'mood weaving' - I put on my headphones to block out distractions and totally zoned out while I was weaving.

One of the most difficult things that I had to deal with was sleep deprivation - we worked non stop, including evenings and weekends. Twice when the other two went home I stayed behind beyond midnight trying my hardest to catch up and one weekend they both went home to have a break while I again stayed back and worked my socks off. Needless to say by the penultimate day I was so exhausted I decided to stay in my pjs; nothing beats the home comforts of wearing slippers and a dressing gown, especially when the barn itself was so cold!

This is a a close up of my final piece, it doesn't just have the basic plain weave, I also incorporated some more complex boxes. I wove and wove until I physically couldn't do anymore. The yarn was very fine, continued to get knotted and broke very easily. Each time I moved the work to allow for the fabric to grow, it took 45 minutes to reset it and then I had keep winding bobbins to go inside the wooden shuttle that you can see in the picture, this is what you carry in and out of the warp threads to create the weave.

Pictured here on the last day is me with the other trainees Holly and Tref and Aiyor from the production crew - he kept me sane by playing Primal Scream when I felt down, bought me lots of Innocent Veg pots when I was hungry and made me endless cups of peppermint tea to keep warm!

The aftermath

A lot of people have contacted me and asked me if I would weave again. By the end of the experience I did learn how to set up a loom and how to weave so to lose that skill would be wrong. I don’t have access to a loom now but if I saw one I’m sure I would want to have a go. Long term I plan to do an evening class in weaving which will hopefully be a much less stressful experience!

Hearing feedback about the show has been really interesting, especially where I have been mentioned. On one end of the spectrum, there are people who sympathised with me and understood my frustrations – one person even told me she was so emotionally exhausted watching the show she needed to lie down afterwards. On the other end of the scale I’ve read people say that I came across as a very lazy person. Who’d have thought a Friday night TV show about crafting could be so controversial!

Most of my memories of the experience are still very clear in my mind and seeing them visually was a bit like having my private thoughts suddenly projected on a TV screen without me knowing. But I'm glad that throughout it I stuck to my beliefs - weaving is this instance may not have been for me but I am very open to trying it again one day under slightly more normal circumstances.

If you missed the show it is still available to view on BBC Iplayer in the UK:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rl51q/Mastercrafts_Weaving/

Mastercrafts -Tonight, 9pm, BBC 2!

I can't believe that Mastercrafts is actually on TV today. The seven weeks I spent learning to weave seem like a dream - it was such a surreal experience, it's going to be so strange to 're-live' it - I look forward to revealing more once the show has been aired!

In the meantime, here is a sneaky preview photo!!

Tune in and let me know what you thought the show!

Mastercrafts Episode 2 and articles

This lesser spotted glum expression of me warp winding is sadly a good summary of my time on Mastercrafts!! To hear a little more about it, here's an article I wrote for Creative Choices.

(Photo taken from the Mastercrafts book.

And I also forgot to mention this lovely write up on my fave craft website, Crafty Crafty.

Last Friday's episode featured three trainees mastering the craft of thatching. I enjoyed it more than Greenwood purely because there was far more focus on the trainees. Once again the scenery was spectacular making it pleasant to watch. I'm still not sure about the timing, I know it's Monty's 'Gardener's World' slot but it's such a 'slow' paced programme, Sunday evenings would have been far better suited to it.

Big question.....could I have done it? I applied to be a trainee thatcher and ended up being a weaver. To be brutally honest if I was one of the the trainees I would have found it a bit boring. They only spent a few days working on an actual roof, I liked the idea of spending 6 weeks in the great outdoors. Most tasks were indoors on a mini roof.....not the same thing really. I wouldn't have enjoyed getting injuries on my hand or getting my nailvarnish chipped either but I still maintain that I would have liked to have given it a go.

I admired the trainees passion, they all seemed very enthusiastic about their chosen craft, bring on this week's metalwork!

"Mastercrafts The Book"

The postman woke me up in the early hours with two very exciting pieces of post, the book 'Mastercrafts' to accompany the new BBC Series that I am soon to be on and a picture drawn by my 4 year old niece depicting all my favourite things (Note the cupcakes and pretty dress!)

Published by the brilliant David & Charles (brilliant because they publish lots of wonderful

crafty titles) the book is celebration of the six crafts that feature in the series - stonework, thatching, woodwork, glass, metalwork and weaving. A beautiful 256 page hard back book, its a bit like an encyclopedia of the crafts in question.

The book is written by Tom Quinn, a writer and historian who knows a lot about the countryside. However this is where I started to get a bit frustrated. The book is about re-discovering British Craftmanship of which I am a passionate advocate, and despite how informative and interesting the content, the cover is atrocious. I honestly think it's one of the worst craft book covers I've ever seen (and having been the editor of a crafts magazine I have seen a lot of craft books). It panders to every stereotype you could possibly think of to do with country crafts making it extremely unappealing, if it doesn't sell well, I wouldn't be surprised if the cover is to blame. Hence this is why I have covered it up with my niece's drawing.

But of course, never judge a book by it's cover, give it a chance.......

Each chapter begins with the history of the craft exploring the origination of raw materials, how the craft has developed, going into alot of detail which makes it the ideal book for college libraries to help with research - there is information here that is impossible to find in other places.

The book also includes some photos of the trainees who took part in the TV series and interviews with the 'mastercraft' tutors. Can you spot me? Sadly from the aforementioned 256 there are just two photos of me in it (and three photos of my hands!). The day the book photographer came I was working on my own outside for 12 hours, the two shots that are in the book were 'test shots' taken in doors. But the most disappointing aspect of the whole book is the fact NONE of the trainees have their names mentioned.

In the way the that I can't understand why they chose the hideous cover, I can't understand why they haven't mentioned our names, even a simple 'thank you' in the back would have been nice. They have thanked the production company, the tutors, and Monty the presenter but not the 18 people who gave up their lives for 6 weeks to take part in the show. It's not like they didn't know our names, we all signed release forms. It's just plain mean.

And on that note my final verdict of this book is that it's an excellent resource for people who want to know more about the specific crafts in question and may be considering taking it up themselves and students who are studying crafts but with it's uninspiring cover I don't think it will appeal to today's new breed of modern hip crafter which is a real shame : (