Thursday, October 27, 2022

Quilter Fan Mail

On Monday, I got this e-mail from a member of my church in North Carolina:

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Dear Kristin,

Your recent offering in Daily Grace was most insightful. I found it so inspiring that I had to share it. I forwarded it to S___, the coordinator for the Quilters, who has asked me to find out if it is permissible for her use all or parts of the article when the quilts are blessed before being shipped to Maryland. She will be writing something to be published in the bulletin and the newsletter. She doesn't want to infringe on any rules prohibiting it's use. You may reply to me or to S____.

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Of course I wrote back to say that of course they could use my work.  And then I wondered where my work is appearing:  Daily Grace is not on my list of places I'm published, so what might it be?  The name of a newsletter?  Someone else's blog?  Somewhere else?  Do I care, as long as I'm getting credit?

I did some searching through my files and blog posts.  The subject line of the e-mail certainly sounded like something I would write:  the Holy Trinity as a Quilting Group.  Why couldn't I remember?  What if it wasn't really mine?

I wrote back to ask about the source:

"I'm not sure I ever saw the published version of "The Daily Grace"--I realize it might not be easy to send to me, but if it's electronic, I'd love to see it."

She sent me the link about the time I solved the mystery:  I wrote an article for Gather magazine, and it appeared in September of 2021.  When I signed the contract, I did give various other ELCA publications permission to use my writing without asking first--hence the excerpt in "The Daily Grace."

There's not an online site that has the whole article, but here's an excerpt that will give you a bigger chunk of the article.

I have been thinking about all the ways I've been published, all the ways my work has traveled in the world.  And I've been feeling a tinge of regret about all the ways I didn't pursue publication.  It's not too late, of course.  But wider publication won't be my top agenda for a year or two as I plunge into seminary studies.

Speaking of which, I have two papers due today, so let me shift my focus there.

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