Introducing Anne and this blog

I started blogging almost two years ago when I knew that I had received a Fulbright Fellowship to go to Romania to teach for a year (see http://ayearinromania.blogspot.com target=new).  I enjoyed keeping the blog and using it to share my impressions of the culture and my activities while there.  That blog came to a screeching halt in May 2013 when I got so very busy trying my best to fit in EVERYTHING before my daughter and I left Romania.

My trip to Romania had a number of impacts on me, one of which is very relevant to this blog.  While there I had a profound sense of balance in terms of the way I was living life.  When I returned home to North Carolina I had to work very hard at maintaining that sense of integrating work with play, feeding my soul along with my wallet when I engaged in work.  I came to the realization that it was time to stop considering what life might be like if I were a full time bookbinder and paper maker and actively work to make it happen.

Thus I have spent a few months working at creating Anne’s Books and Papers as my business and am actively making plans to transition from full time academics (my current “day job”) to fulltime craftsman and entrepreneur.  This blog is one of the ways I want to share my process and engage with people who are interested in books, bookbinding, paper, papermaking, and the myriad uses to which one can put a hand-bound book.  Writing about my processes will help me clarify for my own self and also opens me to the feedback of others.  I know that I learn best when I am in constructive conversation with others.   There are few if any truly original ideas in the world, but there are many unique applications and variations on themes.  I am writing this blog to share my perspectives in such a way that will help me grow as both craftsman and entrepreneur.  Please join me on my journey!