How to Sustain Your Art with Craft

Even when doing your art is fun, it takes hard work and craftsmanship to share your creativity with the world.

When I was five, I created a book. It was all done by hand with pictures drawn by me and words describing the action. I’d recently learned my alphabet, got help on the words, and wrote it in a single day. I had it bound and ready to share before my afternoon snack.

I remember this event because the fun and excitement of creating a book was burned into memory through the emotions of the moment. I can still picture my mother fussing over the tiny “book.” Thinking back, of course she was proud, and probably amused at how awful was my little ten-page tape-bound edition.

I recently learned a few tricks on creating a book and had an equally exciting bit of fun. That’s about a 55-year gap, and it still isn’t old for me.

That new trick is really part of the oldest trick in the book: we were made to be makers. Making stuff makes us happy.

Bookcraft is My Craft

I write books. About ten years ago, when I decided to self-publish, I learned how to format and publish.

I used LibreWrite, the open-source word processor, to do the book interior layout. To…