What a wonderful prompt! I wanted to write about a book I have just read for the second time called _The Passion Dream Book_ by Whitney Otto. You may be familiar with an earlier work of hers, _How to Make an American Quilt_ which was made into a movie with a wonderful cast including Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Alfre Woodard, Jean Simmons and Maya Angelou, among others.

Anyway, this book is an equally rich tapestry of stories about artists dealing with inspiration, distraction and connection. About how dreams reveal passions and passions drive people to seek what they dream, even if they don’t know exactly what that is. Artists from the Italian Renaissance to the Harlem Renaissance to the group of American expatriates in Paris appear along with stories about pursuing and denying passions and dreams. And for those working with the Artist’s Way, it’s a great companion piece.

“How funny … to say what I will be, not what I will do, as if [I] will someday be transformed.”

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