This is an image I used in an art book I made for a class I took a few years ago. Without going into too much boring detail, our project required that we construct an alternative book. The assignment really made our heads spin. What the heck did this professor want? I sent him idea after idea, and he kept saying, “No,” but he never really would verbalize what would bring a “yes” answer. Finally, a friend of mine who was also taking the class who also knows I’m a huge Emily Dickinson fan said, “Just channel her.”

We were down to the wire at this point with one week before the project was due, and we both realized we basically needed to just “do it” and hope for the best. So I took her advice and thought about Dickinson and how she did what she wanted to do with her life (at least what she could do that was within her socially restrictive environment). She wrote poetry but threw out the poetry rule book. She wrote what she wanted to write without thought about what someone else would think, without censoring herself.

And that’s what I pretty much did for the next week as a labored over my project, which I crafted using all types of techniques from cross stitch to decoupage. My professor raved about it, and I really feel the experience forced me to break through creatively as well as academically. I’m such a rule follower that typically my censor is on full blast 24/7!

I still call on her now and then when I need a little help, and very often, she speaks to me. What about you? Do you have a creative muse?

EDIT NOTE: I am so busy with, well, life right now that I pulled this from a very old post and did a little editing. I hope you still enjoy it, even if it may seem a little familiar to you.