The time I almost wrote a book

I firmly believe that when a opportunity comes along that scares and excites you in equal measure you should grab it with both hands. When an email arrived in my inbox asking if I'd like to write a jewellery making book the answer was an immediate 'yes!'. Ever since I discovered jewellery making, writing a book has been one of my wishes. I remember and still cherish the first two books I bought when I discovered jewellery making and in the back of my mind I've always wanted to one day create a book that I hope would inspire others to create like these did to me. 

The subject of the book was to be all about leather jewellery making, a subject that has become an unintentional specialism with me. Using leather began as a way to incorporate metallics, jewels and colour into my projects without having to learn silversmithing. From there its escalated into a material I can't work without. 

The process of book writing was fairly straight forward - it took me back to my fashion student days. First I submitted a synopsis outlining all the projects. I had to come up with a total of 30 ideas which I really loved doing. I hid myself away over the course of a few weekends and sketched and sampled until I was happy with the mix of projects. From there projects and book were reviewed by the publisher and I was given the go ahead to produce sample projects and pages. I shot the tutorials at the publishers with a photographer and creative director, again the process was exactly the same as i produce for my blog - white card, step by step shots, etc. From there these were put into pages. 

Sadly when the pages were sent out to publishers in the U.S it didn't get the go ahead which was a real shame as I'd been practice writing my thanks page (I love reading those) and planning a book tour! In hindsight I'm ok that it didn't go ahead, book writing and having a brand new baby wouldn't have been the best combination but I'm still incredibly proud that I was asked and that I have a book in me. The good news is, I"m still available to write a book (hi there publishers!) and I remembered how much I love a proper creative project. I'm at a crossroads at the moment - do I return to my safe office job or take a chance and finally embark on a more creative career?