A few months ago, our advertising team informed me about an up-and-coming feel-good book featuring LGBTQ main characters and a storyline centered on competitive quilting. Naturally, I was intrigued. They mentioned that the author was very outgoing and eager to promote his debut novel, so naturally I reached out to him, and thankfully, he graciously agreed to do this interview! Let’s hear the story behind his debut novel Stitched and find out how Eli McCann finds that time to write between being a dad, a lawyer and managing everything else that life throws at us every single day.
Stitched
by Eli McCann
A hilarious, heartwarming debut novel about competitive quilting, unlikely friendships, and found family.
“Bursting at the seams with humor and genuinely tender, touching moments.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS
Betty Lou Dearden has been a member of the Ogden Quilters Association for more than 20 years when it’s announced that the biggest quilting competition in the country is coming to Utah. With the clock ticking and a chance to finally beat their long-time rival quilting circle, the women welcome two young gay men to their group as they bicker their way to an award-worthy entry. With disarming humor and extraordinary heart, Eli McCann takes readers deep into the cozy but cutthroat world of competitive quilting and the sometimes-messy friendships that shape our lives.
Q: You’re a man of many interests. An attorney, an author with two books, and you have some interesting side projects. How did you get started writing fiction?
I had never intended to write fiction. In 2021, I was at dinner with my husband and my parents when my mom suddenly said to us, “there is a lot of drama going on in the quilting community right now,” before taking a sip of her Diet Coke. Intrigued, we started asking questions and for the next two hours, she dished some of the best gossip we had ever heard. When we left dinner that night, my husband said to me, “you need to write a book about this.” We stayed up late that night coming up with a story about a group of older women who had quilted together for decades and now needed to recruit two young gay men to join their group and help them prepare for a quilting competition against their bitter rivals. I wrote Stitched over the next year–I think I just needed an idea that excited me in order to get me to dip my toes in the world of fiction.
Q: Since you’re so busy, how do you find time to write? Are you an early morning person, an after-work writer, middle of the night? What does your writing routine look like?
I wish I could say I was a morning person. I tend to write best mid-day for some reason. In 2013 I got a job as a lawyer at a large intense law firm and on my first day, a friend at the firm said to me, “you are going to be so busy and overwhelmed with work that it will be tempting to put your creative projects on the backburner, but I’m telling you, if you do that, that part of your brain will start to atrophy faster than you realize.” This scared me enough that I decided to always make it a priority to carve out time to write every single day. I don’t think a day has gone by in 20 years where I didn’t do at least some writing.
Q: Has fatherhood changed your writing schedule?
Fatherhood has certainly made it more challenging to find time for long writing sessions. And generally, fatherhood has changed me as a writer. When I pulled together my newspaper columns for my book, We’re Thankful for the Moisture, I noticed that my stories became noticeably more sentimental and kinder once my son was born. It seems, without even really noticing, his birth cast a new hue over my eyes.
Q: As a quilter, I’m curious about your connection to the quilting community. I didn’t know it was so competitive!
I noted above the origin story about how I came up with the idea for the book, but I’ll add here that I grew up under a quilting frame. My mom has been quilting with her group, Common Threads, for more than 40 years. Some of my most vivid memories from my childhood consist of me playing underneath the quilt on stilts, my mom and her friends sitting around the edges, hand quilting and gabbing. They are outrageously talented and have entered shows and competitions over the years. These quilts require an exceptional amount of skill and creativity (and time!) and so naturally the people who put in the effort do so with a lot of pride and grit.
Q: LI has a very strong LGBTQ+ audience. As a queer author, how do you think your characters will resonate with our readers?
There are multiple gay characters in the book, and to be honest, those characters were the easiest for me to write. It was important to me that their orientation not be a vehicle for adversity–that it was just a fact about them. I’ve grown fatigued over the years at how few stories there are about gay characters that don’t center on their coming out and overcoming prejudice. To that, the characters’ sexual orientation is not a focal point, but rather just another thing about them. I hope readers will find this grounding and pleasant.
Q: What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken with your writing? What did you learn from that experience?
When I began to pitch Stitched to publishers, I received the same feedback over and over-–they liked the book and my voice, but they were worried it would be hard to market a book about older women in Utah quilting. They asked if I would be willing to rewrite it and have it be about younger women and include romance. I refused–-that was not the book I wanted to write. It was a risk to stick to my guns because it meant I may never have gotten this book published. But eventually I found Torrey House Press and they completely got it. I’m thrilled to say the risk paid off and we have received an overwhelming amount of support and excitement from readers across the world about Stitched.
Q: What was the highlight of writing this book?
My mom let me attend quilting night with her group for research purposes. Sitting with those women for hours on end observing them was a damn delight.
Q: If you could give a new writer one piece of advice for starting, what would that piece of advice be? Why does this piece of advice personally stand out to you?
Write every day. Every single day. Don’t take a break. Even if you only have five minutes, take that five minutes and write. The more you do it, and the more consistent you are, the better you will get at it. This sounds like very simple advice, but it is the most true advice I have ever internalized as a writer.
Q: Would you like to share any details about your podcast and side projects?
I had been writing humor essays at my website, ItJustGetsStranger.com, for many years when I decided, in 2016, to start a storytelling podcast and live storytelling show to help other people share their own stories. The podcast is called Strangerville and my cohost, Meg Walter, and I have released over 300 episodes with guests located around the world. I was also offered a monthly humor column in The Salt Lake Tribune in 2022, where I write personal stories and reflections from my life. Those columns were turned into a book in early 2026, called We’re Thankful for the Moisture. I continue to enjoy writing the column and on my website.
Q: What books/authors inspire you? Do you follow any writers online?
I devour anything written by David Sedaris. My favorite all-time novelist is John Steinbeck. I wish I could erase my memory of East of Eden so I could read it again for the first time.
Q: What’s next on your creative bucket list?
I’ll be releasing another book of humor essays in spring, 2027. I’m in early conversations about adaptations for Stitched. I am also getting started on my next novel.
Q: Up-and-coming authors have such a special connection with their fans. If our readers want to connect with you online, where can they find you?
I’m loud and everywhere! You can find me on basically any social media platform (I’m most active on TikTok and Instagram @eliwmccann). My website is another great way to find me: ItJustGetsStranger.com.
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us, Eli! We wish you much success with Stitched and cannot wait to read what you write next!
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