Writer's Block Quilt Block, Author Susan Wiggs, and Another Winner

Writer's Block Quilt Block

Do you love to quilt AND love to read?  I invite you to join the free, online Quilters' Book Club.  Each month, we read a book, discuss it through comments on my blog posts, and then make a quilt block to represent that book.  I research several potential blocks to go with the book's themes, setting, main characters, and events.  And I find the patterns free on the internet, making it easy for everyone to access.  Each member can choose the block or blocks they'd like to make.

To join, become a follower of my blog so you won't miss any blog post.  To make it super convenient, you can also sign up for my posts to be delivered right to you via email.  It is never too late to join and begin reading and sewing along with us.       

Our book to read and discuss during August 2013 is The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs.  Here is the author's biography, taken from her website: http://www.susanwiggs.com/

"Using blunt scissors, pages from a Big Chief tablet, a borrowed stapler and a Number Two pencil, Susan Wiggs self-published her first novel at the age of eight.  A Book About Some Bad Kids was based on the true-life adventures of Susan and her siblings, and the first printing of one copy was a complete sell-out.

"Due to her brother's extreme reaction to that first prodigious effort, Susan went underground with her craft, entertaining her friends and offending her siblings with anonymously-written stories of virtuous sisters and the brothers who torment them.  The first romance she ever read was Shanna by the incomparable Kathleen Woodiwiss, which she devoured while slumped behind a college vector analysis textbook.  Armed with degrees from SFA and Harvard, and toting a crate of 'keeper' books by Woodiwiss, Roberta Gellis, Laurie McBain, Rosemary Rodgers, Jennifer Blake, Bertrice Small and anything with the words 'flaming' and 'ecstasy' in the title, she became a math teacher, just to prove to the world that she did have a left brain.

"Late one night, she finished the book she was reading and was confronted with a reader's worst nightmare—She was wide awake, and there wasn't a thing in the house she wanted to read.  Figuring this was the universe's way of taking away her excuses, she picked up a Big Chief tablet and a Number Two pencil, and began writing her novel with the working title, A Book About Some Bad Adults.  Actually, that was a bad book about some adults, but Susan persevered, learning her craft the way skydiving is learned—by taking a blind leap and hoping the chute will open.

"Her first book was published (without the use of blunt scissors and a stapler) by Zebra in 1987, and since then she has been published by Avon, Tor, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Warner and Mira Books.  Unable to completely abandon her beloved teaching profession, Susan is a frequent workshop leader and speaker at writers' conferences, including the literary institution Fields End and the legendary Maui Writers Conference. Her novel The Charm School was voted one of RWA's Favorite Books of the Year.  She is the proud recipient of three RITA awards for Lakeside Cottage, Lord of the Night and The Mistress, and is often a finalist for the prestigious award. Her books appear regularly on numerous 'Best Of' lists.

"Susan enjoys many hobbies, including sitting in the hot tub while talking to her mother on the phone, kickboxing, cleaning the can opener, sculpting with butter and growing her hair.  She lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with her family."

Have you read other books by Susan Wiggs?  Inquiring minds want to know!  Answer in the comment section below.  If you are reading via email, you must first click on the blog title to be able to comment and read the comments of others.  

By commenting, you are entering you name in a give-away for a copy of The Double Wedding Ring by Clare O'Donohue, courtesy of Plume Books.  There will be two lucky winners this month!

***We are lucky enough to have a second winner for the month of August!***  Our second winner is DJ!  Congratulations!  DJ won a giveaway of a fabulous prize pack containing Wedding Ring, Endless Chain, Lover’s Knot (first three books of the Shenandoah Album Series) and Mountain Away, all by Emilie Richards - courtesy of Harlequin!  DJ, email your mailing address to starwoodquilter@gmail.com, and I will make sure that your books are shipped right out to you!  And thank you, Harlequin, for two fabulous prize packs this month!

You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post here.