Why I founded ParkaDesign Books, why my stories belong in different worlds, and why I no longer feel the need to justify it.

There are certain things people say to you that stay with you far longer than they should.

"Here you go, doing something different again."

"Can't you just concentrate on one thing for once?"

Or even: "How long is this going to keep you interested?"

I've heard comments like these many times. Over the years. Decades, actually.

Sometimes they probably weren't meant unkindly. Sometimes perhaps they were. But eventually, remarks like these leave their mark. Especially when you genuinely can't understand what's so unusual about being interested in lots of different things.

Because it wasn't as though I simply started things and then abandoned them.

I followed through. I put in the work, learned what I needed to learn, achieved my goals. And hardly had I accomplished one thing before another idea might already be taking shape.

To me, that always seemed perfectly natural.

For others, apparently not.

Many Sides. One Person.

I've been curious about all sorts of things since I was a child.

My grandfather taught me to read and write at an early age. As soon as I could write, I began creating my first stories. Handwritten and carefully put together, because even then, I didn't want ordinary notebooks. I wanted proper books.

I devoured fantasy novels, discovered poetry, invented my own secret writing system and filled pages with my thoughts.

And alongside all of that, there was yarn. Knitting, crochet, creating things.

Later, plenty of other interests joined them.

I could never limit myself to just one thing. Not when it came to reading, not when it came to creating, and certainly not when it came to the thoughts running through my head.

Perhaps that's why psychology eventually fascinated me so much.

I wanted to understand why people are the way they are. Why they make certain decisions, why they contradict themselves, why they do things that, at first glance, make absolutely no sense.

And, of course, I wanted to understand why my own mind works the way it does.

Did studying psychology influence the way I think?

Absolutely.

Or did I choose psychology precisely because I'd always thought this way?

Probably a bit of both.

In any case, I've always been interested in what lies beneath the surface.

In people and their stories.

And in the many different sides that make us who we are.

The Stories Were Always There

I've written an incredible amount over the years.

Not necessarily with the intention of turning any of it into books one day.

Sometimes I wrote about things I'd experienced, sometimes observations, sometimes thoughts that had been occupying my mind. Often, they developed into little stories.

Perhaps that was my way of keeping a diary.

Just not always a conventional one.

I wove experiences into stories, invented characters, changed situations and followed thoughts wherever they might lead.

And it wasn't always about life's big, difficult moments.

Sometimes I simply wanted to preserve something lovely. Sometimes a situation made me laugh. Sometimes I wanted to understand why something had annoyed me. And sometimes there was simply an idea that suddenly grew into an entire world.

I think that's still true today.

A story can grow out of any side of my personality.

Some become novels. Some become children's books. Others might turn into knitting patterns. And still others remain thoughts that I write down somewhere, someday.

Self-Reflection Doesn't Always Have to Hurt

Writing is often described as a form of therapy.

And yes, of course it can help us process experiences, organise our thoughts or understand our feelings a little better.

But I think there's much more to it than that.

Because self-reflection doesn't always have to be painful.

It can be fun, too.

You can look back at your younger self and wonder what on earth you were thinking at the time. You can smile at your own decisions, question beliefs you once held or realise how differently you see things today.

And sometimes, in the process, you discover something you hadn't even been aware of before.

I don't write simply to get things off my chest.

I want to create something new from my experiences, my observations and my imagination.

That doesn't mean my books are autobiographical.

But there's one thing I can promise you already:

You'll always find a little of me in my books.

Perhaps in the way I look at people. My questions. My humour. My doubts. Or my belief that there's usually more behind a decision than we can see at first glance.

After all, my characters don't necessarily fit neatly into boxes either.

Why should they?

So Why ParkaDesign Books, and Why Now?

Actually, the answer is quite simple.

Because I want to.

And because I'm now old enough to know that this is a perfectly good reason.

Perhaps the menopause has played its part, too. Those hormonal antics must be good for something, after all.

But joking aside.

I've spent many years trying to find a way to accommodate all my different interests. Some became part of my professional life, others remained personal pursuits. And some ideas had to wait.

Not because they mattered any less to me.

But because life also involves commitments, responsibilities, family, work and decisions.

More than eleven years ago, I began building something of my own through my knitting and crochet patterns.

ParkaDesigns has grown over the years. And I've grown alongside it.

But the stories never disappeared.

They were always there.

And at some point, I started asking myself why I should wait any longer.

That's how ParkaDesign Books came into being.

Not as a replacement for ParkaDesigns.

Not because I'm giving up one thing to start something completely different.

But because I finally want to create a space of my own for my stories, too.

Why I've Chosen to Publish My Own Books

Once I'd decided to establish ParkaDesign Books, another question followed: how did I want to publish my books?

For me, self-publishing was a conscious choice.

Of course, it means work. A great deal of it, in fact.

You don't just have to take care of the writing. There's also the design, publication, organisation and so much of what would normally happen behind the scenes at a publishing house.

But I'm familiar with working this way.

Over many years, I've built my own creative business around my knitting and crochet patterns. I know how rewarding it can be to guide an idea from its very first spark all the way to a finished product.

And I also know how much responsibility comes with it.

That's precisely why this path appeals to me.

Because I want to decide for myself which story I'll tell next.

Today, I might feel like accompanying Toni, Muki and Emma on their adventures through the magical world of yarn.

Tomorrow, I might want to help Romy uncover a secret that could change everything she thought she knew about her family.

And the day after that, I may have an idea for a new knitting pattern that simply demands to be tried.

Perhaps another children's book will follow. Perhaps a novel. Perhaps something I haven't even thought of yet.

And that's exactly the point.

I don't want to have to decide today which parts of myself will be allowed to have a place tomorrow.

I want the freedom to follow my ideas.

That doesn't mean I work without a plan or that I have to pursue every project immediately.

Quite the opposite. I can be very organised when I want to achieve something.

But I want to decide for myself which goals I set.

And I don't want to commit to a single genre simply because it might be easier to market.

My stories grow out of different parts of who I am.

So why should I only be allowed to tell one kind?

The Trouble with Boxes

It took me a long time to understand that having so many interests wasn't something I needed to justify.

That sounds so obvious to me today.

But it wasn't always.

When you've spent decades hearing that you really ought to concentrate on one thing, sooner or later you start questioning yourself.

Perhaps everything really would be easier if you had just one passion.

Perhaps you ought to make a choice.

Perhaps you simply need to learn how to concentrate better.

I've thought about questions like these. I've also explored the terms and theories that attempt to explain why some people have so many different interests.

And eventually, another question occurred to me.

Why do I have to explain myself at all?

Why isn't it enough that I enjoy different things?

Why should I set aside part of who I am just so that other people can find it easier to categorise me?

It took time to reach that point.

And I'm not going to pretend that other people's opinions never bother me these days.

But I've learned to look more closely at which expectations are genuinely my own.

And which ones I may simply have adopted because I've heard them often enough.

Perhaps You Have to Reach a Certain Age

I think our perspective on many things changes as we get older.

We don't automatically become calmer or wiser. If only.

But we gain experience.

We discover that some things we once worried about endlessly eventually become completely unimportant.

And that other things we've put off for years suddenly take on a whole new meaning.

For me, writing is one of those things.

Perhaps I could have founded ParkaDesign Books twenty years ago.

Perhaps I would have written entirely different stories back then.

But today, I am the person I've become through all those years.

With my experiences, my contradictions, my humour, my creativity and all the ideas still swirling around in my head.

And that person wants to write books now.

Not someday.

Now.

A Message to Anyone Who Recognises Themselves

Perhaps you know the feeling.

You're enthusiastic about all sorts of things, constantly have new ideas and keep hearing that you really ought to make up your mind.

Perhaps you've even started keeping some of your interests to yourself because you simply can't face hearing the same comments again.

Then I'd like to share something that took me a long time to learn.

Don't wait as long as I did.

You don't have to reduce yourself to just one part of who you are so that other people can understand you more easily.

You don't need an explanation for every new passion.

And you don't have to prove that an idea will last forever for it to be worth exploring.

What feels right to you deserves a place in your life.

Of course, we all have responsibilities and decisions we can't simply ignore.

But within the lives we lead, we have the right to decide who we want to be and which parts of ourselves we want to embrace.

That's not a question of age.

And really, it shouldn't have to be a question of courage either.

Welcome to My Writing Room

For me, ParkaDesign Books is therefore much more than a name for my books.

It's a piece of independence.

A place where my different stories are allowed to exist side by side.

And this Writing Room is part of that.

Here, I'll share stories about my books, my ideas and characters, about writing itself and sometimes about why a story turned out completely differently from what I'd originally planned.

But this won't be a place exclusively about books.

Perhaps I'll write about a childhood memory. An encounter that made me think. About getting older, society's expectations or a question I simply can't get out of my head.

Sometimes serious. Sometimes critical. Sometimes with humour.

And perhaps, now and then, about something that doesn't appear to have anything to do with writing at all.

Because I don't want to limit myself here either.

I don't know what thoughts tomorrow will bring.

But I'm looking forward to giving them a place.

I don't fit into a box.

Neither do my stories.

And that's exactly why ParkaDesign Books exists.

Perhaps life isn't about finding the one box we fit into after all – but about remaining curious enough to keep opening new ones.

Yours, Kathrin 📖