Only you can tell your story

I spent Saturday quilting with a group of wonderfully creative women. It didn't matter what we were sewing -- we just happened to all be making the same scrap quilt. Not that any of them looked anything alike as we built our "blocks."

I couldn't help but notice how much quilting is like writing. We all had the same pattern or formula, if you will. But none of us approached the quilt in the same way and we all came up with something different that was each of us.

When it comes to writing, everyone knows that there are no new plots under the sun. So what makes one book become a bestseller while another book about the same thing is rejected? It's the way an author tells her story.

Why? Because no one else has lived the same life she lived, had the same experiences, reacted the same way because of those experiences. No one else sees the world around us the exact way we do.

With quilting, it's a matter of putting the pieces together -- just like writing. Fabric, like scenes, comes in different colors, designs, textures and sizes. Does this piece go with that one? Or would another one work better?

We make the decisions, picking and choosing what feels right, putting our own unique stamp on it. The choices can be ugly, trust me. But that's how we learn. The next one could be a work of art.

I have often stood in a bookstore and thought there is no room for me to write a mainstream book because there are already too many books on the shelves. But I also know that even if I told another writer everything about the book I want to write, that writer couldn't write my book. If I don't do it, that book will never get written.

Like writing, when I look down at my latest "block" of fabrics I've sewn together -- not matter if the points match perfectly or if the seams are all exactly one-quarter inch -- I realize I have created something that is all me. I've expressed myself, my particular vision.

With any creative endeavor, we are putting ourselves out there. Some people may look at what we've created and say, "I would never have done it like that." No, they wouldn't have. And isn't that a wonderful thing.

I love the freedom of writing what I want to write -- and piecing together scraps of fabric any way I darn well please. That's the fun part, being myself, creating something that is all me. It's saying "this is my story, like it or not."

Which is the good news for anyone who wants to write or quilt or create something but is afraid of failing. No one can bring what you can to that endeavor because no one is exactly like you. If you don't do it, then that one-of-a-kind creation will never get made.

So take a chance, do that something you've always wanted to do. Put your unique stamp on it. If it makes you happy then it is perfect. It's you.