Ayelet Waldman on What Quilting Taught Her About the Creative Process
Ayelet Waldman reflects on how quilting has influenced her creative process as a writer. She contrasts her meticulous approach to quilting with the improvisational style of renowned quilters from Gees Bend. Waldman emphasizes the parallels between planning a quilt and outlining a novel, both of which require careful thought and creativity.
- ▪Ayelet Waldman was previously an attorney burdened by student debt.
- ▪She began quilting during a time of anxiety, which transformed her life and complemented her writing.
- ▪Waldman compares her structured approach to quilting with her method of writing novels, both involving careful planning.
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In a previous life, I was an attorney with too much student debt. I figured if I sacrificed my feminist principles and allowed the men I dated to buy my meals, and otherwise subsisted on packaged noodles, I could in one year, on a corporate lawyer’s salary, pay down the loan sufficiently to at least keep me from having a panic attack every time I opened my bank statement. I bought an unfortunate double-breasted suit at Filene’s Basement, and sat for a dozen interviews with law firms.
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