Читать книгу Blood Stitches - Erin Fanning - Страница 6

In 2009, an Italian woman, trapped underneath her bed after an earthquake, kept herself occupied by knitting. I read about her around the same time I was learning how to knit. I imagined firefighters digging through the rubble and finding her wrapped in a knitted afghan.

The story tumbled around in my brain, somehow intersecting with my interest in Mexican culture. From there, I discovered the Mayan twin myth and the battle with the demon Vucub Caquix. Bit and pieces of Mayan mythology adhered themselves to my imagination, morphing into a history of magic and needlework.

Soon Gabby and her family formed, along with a question: what if you could not only knit your way to safety but also create a disaster through knitting. It wasn’t long afterward that Blood Stitches pushed its way through my fingertips.

As with all writing, many people touched this story and I’m forever grateful to them. Lori, Emily, and Carl read early drafts of Blood Stitches, and then Lori read it all over again. Ann, Kelly, and Sherry encouraged me more than they’ll ever realize. Finally, Renee and Lyrical Press gave Blood Stitches a chance to find an audience, while Penny helped me sculpt it into a better book.

But, as with most good things in my life, I ultimately have my husband Keith to thank. The story never would have existed if he hadn’t said almost twenty years ago, “Let’s quit our jobs and travel.” It opened the possibilities of a life no longer constrained by societal expectations and reignited the writing flame from my childhood.