Muriel writes how rejection has given her opportunities to overcome the negativity and how it has become a positive part of her art to move forward.

Muriel shares why early mornings are important to her and finds a kindred spirit in the American Robin. She comments on how a disciplined ritual contributes to creativity and self-nurture, recommended by Julia Cameron in “The Artist Way”.

Muriel writes about the spirit of yellow and what it means to her. She defines yellow as culturally, psychologically, and artistically motivated and describes how yellow announces spring in her garden.

Muriel describes the research of letters at the Rubenstein Library at Duke University. Her goal was to learn the usage of words and language for the art of handwritten letters in the 19th century.

Muriel relates to the differences in weather, gardening, and traveling south to attend her book signing at the ABAC folk festival, other historical museums, and another library with requested archives for her next book idea.

Muriel provides another example of closing a circle of research, writing, and witnessing living history at Georgia’s Museum of Agriculture in Tifton, Georgia.

Muriel writes about her journey and completion of framing her work and why she realizes committing her art to the final process can have a psychological drawback. Why is this step a challenging one?

Muriel combines Women’s History Month with the Irish tradition of St. Patrick’s Day. She shares a painting she saw in the National Gallery of Ireland.

Muriel ask how do your respond to your surroundings, after reading Rick Rupin’s book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. What is your antennae as a creative?

Muriel rediscovers connections from her research that are being brought to light again once the study and publication are complete, thanks to those who were a part of the research.

Muriel’s recent “winter read” is Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. In her book review, she writes about Charmaine Wilkerson’s gift to tell a beautiful story in “Now and Then,” which reveals secrets and heritage, in meaning and symbolism of a family recipe.

Muriel unravels emotions of longing and loss in Song of Jaybird. She encourages others to explore these themes by reading Song of Jaybird and invites them to share their insight.

Muriel writes about Happenstance Factual Encounters which developed in the course of her writing and researching Song of Jaybird. She shares interesting tidbits which influenced or confirmed her story development. The author sites a few examples of her inspiration she happened upon while writing her novel about Debt Peonage of Black Laborers in Turpentine Camps at the turn of the twentieth century.

In her third part of the resolution, Muriel blogs about distractions and taking control of time. She references The Artist’s Way- A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity and Claude Monet’s Magpie.

Muriel shares how quickly her goals were replaced this week with distractions, which interrupt creativity.

Muriel writes a play on the word resolution, and how different meanings of resolution apply to Art and Book Studio. She likes to use the word goals instead, planning smaller increments of time, and shares a list from Good Housekeeping.

Muriel often writes about unexpected gifts that bring her joy and often spark an idea in her art and writing. In this blog, she shares about such an occasion.