An Open Letter To The Muses

I offer this to the goddesses: enough mohair for a smaller version
of  the Flying Blanket from Leather, Lace, Grit & Grace

Dear Muses:

I hope things are well with each of you up there on Mt. Olympus. Recently I've been getting the feeling from some of your feedback that you think I'm kind of slacking off at the moment. I know that the mountain is quite a distance away, and perhaps the gods have given you obstructed view seating of us mere mortal artists, so let me provide you with a recap of my last 15 months.

Ok, let's just get the big gun out of the way first: I published a book. A book! Yes, an actual 200+ page book. Not only did I come up with the book's concept as well as design and make all 17 designs in the it, but I did all of the research (3 bibliographic pages worth), created all of the book's artwork, shot all the photography, laid out and formatted the book, wrote the entire contents, tested the designs, and indexed the puppy all by myself. Me. No one else. That alone should have taken me far longer than it did (and I beat myself up because I was 2 months over my own self-imposed deadline).

While I was doing that (!), I also had 17 additional designs published in print magazines, e-zines, and a hard cover craft publication. There were many days I got little to no sleep, let me tell you.

I also have consistently blogged here at Voie de Vie the entire time - in fact, I've been creating content here (writing, photos and other artwork) since the end of 2010 (although we could say since the beginning of 2011 and call it good). I have also maintained a small but growing Voie de Vie online store, as well as maintain and continue to sell patterns via Ravelry and Craftsy.

I've also done some artwork for publication (even though it unfortunately made it to the editorial cutting floor), as well as written some articles for publication;  there's also been a painting or two in there (which I miss right now - I'm itching to do some more painting). And I won't even discuss the consistently-busier-than-normal day job.

Now I know that some of you might look at production as a sign of success (and I definitely had a great last 15 months, no doubt about it!), but there also comes a point when it starts to feel like production, and then that's no good. At least not for me. I'm in the process of recharging my creative batteries (and you'll definitely see more on that later this year).

So in closing, I hope dear Muses you will see how far I've come, and that there's a time to create behind the scenes, and a time to show all that creativity off. I don't want to challenge any of you or anything, because I know of Thamyris and know what you did to him. I value my eyesight far too much. I just thought a little friendly recap was, you know, in order.

One of your mortal artist followers down here -
Denise