About

Author, podcaster, designer, mother, speaker, and founder of Crafting-a-Life, Inc. and its imprint Crafting-a-Life Books, Heather’s company specializes in media and Audiobooks-With-Benefits™—treating literature and history with a light touch and serious enthusiasm.

Heather has centered the wheel of her work-life around a simple hub—helping you craft a good life by finding and sharing knowledge and fun:

With her podcast, CraftLit^® she has been bringing Audiobooks-with-Benefits^™ to listeners every week since 2006, giving commuters, SAHMs, and busy people of all stripes a chance to enjoy the books they know they should have read—but haven’t (yet)—in a homespun, friendly format. (CraftLit.com, Audiobooks-with-Benefits.com)
With her research into Cognitive Anchoring and the benefits to attention and memory derived from engaging in simple, automatic behaviors like knitting and doodling, she has traveled around the country, inspiring meeting-goers, conference-call-zombies, students, military veterans, and families of ADD children to pick up the needles, hook, or pen, and improve their memory and happiness. (CognitiveAnchoring.com)
With her Grounded: The Seven series (seen in Vogue Knitting, Winter 2013-14), she brings young adult literature a set of teen protagonists who are smart, independent, and unique—yet aren’t estranged from the adult world. Reviews from adults—and gratifyingly, from teens—have noted the difference from other main-stream teen fare and have become devoted fans of Rosie (and her socks). (GroundedSeries.com, GroundedSeries.com/updates/category/socks/)
With the What Would Madame Defarge Knit? series, she brought together a team of ascendant designers who—with their engaging essays and clever, beautifully wrought knit and crochet patterns—have given joy and inspiration to a devoted cross-section of the crafting world. Along with her publisher, Cooperative Press, she has found a way to pay her designers royalties while still managing to print in the United States. Two things that are unique in the world of craft publishing. (WWMDfK.com, CooperativePress.com)

On the Go Listening--You can choose among the free CraftLit iOS • Android (Amazon) • Android (Google) app, or Apple's new Podcast App (which is native on iOS devices with OS8+, detailed "how to use" here), the Stitcher Radio site or the Stitcher Radio app.

All of those options let you listen anywhere via your "smart" device. The dedicated CraftLit app also allows you to tap a "star" icon next to episode titles so you can download what you want to listen to when in a WiFi environment. That way you don't have to use up your Data Plan by streaming episodes.