Ep. 246: Keri Schroeder and My History

Bookbinder of the Week

Keri Schroeder is a very active bookbinder hailing out of San Antonio, Texas. She operates the Coyote Bones Press and curates the Books in the Wild podcast. She has exhibitions in many places and her artist books are in a variety of collections. She got an MFA from Mills College and worked with Julie Chen around that time. And, importantly for learners, she conducts workshops on occasion. She has some very emotional and deep books as well as being artistic and creative. She can be reached on Facebook, Instagram, and, of course, her books can be viewed on her website at KeriSchroeder.com 

Bookbinding

I have Incomplete projects. In fact, I have Four Incomplete Projects. To be more specific and honest I have four Unstarted But Supposedly Planned Projects. They are:

• recovering two broken paperbacks one of which is at least forty years old (two projects)
• case in The Priests of Hiroshima
• create an art cover for an as-yet-to-be-determined book.

I looked at the books I have made over the years and noticed some phases I have gone through – I have also noticed my skill level as increased. Fortunately. The phases are:

wooden covers — Japanese style sewing — coptic bindings — small — large — and finally settling on sewing and casing in like a regular book. Along the way I also dabbled in pop-up books and tunnel books, both of which I enjoyed making, enjoyed using, and enjoyed showing off to other people.

Looking at all the books I have is both inspiring – I’m amazed I did what I did – and a little sad – Why do I have them? Why haven’t I sold them? Mostly though I find comfort in my improvement over the years.

Fiction

I have unwittingly and sadly discovered something about my writing style. First, there are two kinds of writers: those who outline –some in great detail – and follow the outline religiously. Many are quite successful. I fall into the second category: writers who sit and let the plot, story, characters et al grow organically, let them flow into the consciousness. Many are quite successful as well. 

I have outlined two books in my life. Neither of them did I finish. I usually start books without an outline. Most of them I have finished. I finished them mainly because I wanted to see what happens. Sometimes I have the end and I want to see how I manage to get there. I think I didn't finish the outlined books because I knew what was going to happen, who would do what to who and where et cetera. Tomorrow I’m going to toss out one of the outlines and write my old way; just to see what happens.

Growing Slurry is my latest non-outlined work of fiction. So far, as it is far, far from completed, it is about a mysterious stranger immersed in Moby Dick. His life goal is helping people in trouble. For that role he dons his super-hero costume of red, yellow, green, and blue shirt, pants, and a black basketball cap equipped with a Go-pro camera. He calls himself Slurry Man! Created when his super-hero T-shirt came back with a typo: Slurry instead of Surly. 

Don’t forget, the offer of a free short story is still up for grabs. Shoot me an email with the subject line: Free book and I’ll send you Eternal City as my way of celebrating finishing a novel (Heart of November) with absolutely no relation to Eternal City.