We’re looking forward to introducing you to Amy Brewer. Check out our conversation below.
Amy, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
I think that everyone is secretly struggling with a varying levels of self loathing and fraudulence. I think the heavy weight of the media and most especially the overwhelming presence of social media, is causing people to feel like they need to be so much bigger and greater and better than they feel like they actually are. People are losing site of the small things that actually matter. Those small things are all falling through the cracks and holes that people are poking into themselves to try to force themselves to fit into a puzzle that isn’t truly theirs. Never ending trends and viral moments are causing people to abandon the things they actually care about and to over value the hunt for their 5 seconds of fame.
I feel like people have lost the courage to try something different or unpopular because they don’t feel like it fits into the mold that they think they need to fit into. I am trying to break the mold. I want to be something different. I especially want my kids to know that finding joy in things that are different than what their peers are into doesn’t make them less interesting or important, it makes them genuine, and I hope it will make them happier in the long run.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Amy Brewer. I am kind of a master of none. I like to try all of the crafty things with varying levels of success. I have spent many years crafting and sewing and selling various goods at craft shows and online both on my own and with my sister, Molly. I love sewing and crocheting. I am hoping to take alterations and tailoring classes in the future to further my career in sewing. Crafting has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember. I love creating things.
Lately, I have taken a step back from my normal creative journey to create and promote my first children’s book. I have been wanting to write a children’s book since before we had our first son, almost 6 years ago. Finally, at the end of September, I was able to self publish my first book called “Ollie’s Ten Tickles.” Ollie is an octopus that loves to make new friends and to show them all around his underwater world. “Ollie’s Ten Tickles” is a preschool aged counting book that teaches children to count to ten, while also encouraging movement. It is filled with lots of fun rhymes and repetition to help kids engage and easily learn the rhythm of the story.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
I think the main thing that breaks bonds between people is the lack of communication and clarity. People are so rushed and tense and on edge. In a world of texting and emails and an overwhelming amount of junk, it is hard to get a message across to someone in just the right way. Even if you spend all day adding the perfect punctuation or emoji you still run the risk of the person on the receiving end taking the message the wrong way. I have had countless situations where a cute and funny message, or even a minor comment has been taken way out of context or interpreted in the wrong way and blown up into a huge altercation. What I have learned over the years is that there is no way to really avoid these situations outside of open dialogue. Communication and transparency, as long as both parties are ready and willing to participate and hear each other, will mend any fence no matter how broken it is.
When did you last change your mind about something important?
I decided in 2019 to finish my degree. After high school, I had taken years of college courses and never really knew what I wanted to do. I really thought that I wanted to be an elementary school teacher, but after completing the student teaching portion of the program, I just couldn’t do it. I hated it and I felt so defeated and like I had to start all over. I had been so all in with teaching that I had blinders on to anything else. I had no other ideas of what I could or should do. So I quit. I quit for a long, long time.
I never finished my degree and it made me feel a lot of shame and guilt. I felt like I couldn’t finish in teaching, because I would never use that degree. So instead, I got a job and struggled to pay the thousands of dollars in student loans for years. I had a hard time filling out job applications saying that my highest level of education was high school, when I had completed so much schooling beyond that, but had no title to assign to it.
Just before the pandemic started, my husband and I had a heart to heart about how I was feeling. I told him that I didn’t want to pay for a degree that I would never use, and that I was never going back to school. He kindly explained that they way he saw it was that I was already paying for a degree that I wasn’t using, but I didn’t have anything to show for it. That conversation was a hard pill to swallow, but after a few days of simmering, it really changed my mindset on the issue. My husband encouraged me to go back to the school and just talk to them and see what my options were with the classes I had completed and what degree options I was near or far from. After speaking to my student advisor I decided to finish my degree in English, which looking back, seems like a no brainer for someone who waned to write children’s books. I was only a few classes away from having a Bachelor’s and my advisor assured me that I was able to take all of my classes online, because I was also very pregnant at the time. By December of 2020 I had a wild one year old baby, and a Bachelor’s degree.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I am committed to finding a way to balance my two interests. I am so proud of my accomplishment with finishing my book, and I have several other stories in the works. Ollie isn’t the end of my writing career. I would love to explore the option of publishing my next story the more traditional route with an agent and publisher. On the other hand, I also love to sew and I have been wanting to learn how to make clothing and to do tailoring and alterations for years.
I am hoping to gain some momentum with my book sales over the next few months, and then hopefully I can find some time to commit to my alterations courses. I would love to offer in home alterations while simultaneously fitting in readings and book selling events. I have doubted my abilities in both sewing and writing for years, and I am finally ready to move forward with both, more confidently, even if it ends up with flawed results.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
If I learned that I only had 10 years left I would delete all of my social media. I would try to be more present with my family, especially my two sons. I hope that I would stop saying no so much, and let myself be more open and accepting to all of the wild, and sometimes frustrating, antics, behaviors and shenanigans of their 3 and 5 year old ways. That’s really the goal no matter how much time I have left.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=B76Iidx2cYqQ7NM2nfeFQ267X3MPQPFpTkfE1vlvKd4
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brewmor87/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morvamy/
- Other: https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=P1rJB79ioQHcoJusuqXEmG6zMFuGrqxu0xMRmNPHHyH
Image Credits
Headshots by Hannah Morvay Photography
Book Illustrations by Polina Dabizha
