"It takes creativity to live. ... It is part of our humanity." — Deanne Fitzpatrick, The Rug Hookers Guide to Creativity

Pumpkinitis: A Gourd-altering Condition Some of you may be aware that over the entire month of October I've been suffering* from a non-rare form of Pumpkinitis, a gourd-altering condition that has greatly impacted my creativity, in fact, doubling it. I suspect it has something to do with the color orange and morangeology. Anyway, the Pumpkinitis is the reason for the early arrival of this newsletter because several of my latest creative toilings are most useful to you on or before October 31: a Halloweeny Word Search Puzzle the new Mirecle34 Pumpkin Patch (honestly, with my patchy past how could I not help myself?), and a fun piece titled Martha's Halloween Helpline. Teachers out there have my permission to use the word search puzzle as a classroom activity if they wish. Have fun!

* The good kind of suffering, that is. Pumpkinitis is NOT a real condition, so please don't worry about me.

Introducing: Multicultural Muses & Modern Day Muse Profiles
I told you that we'd be unveiling more cool stuff about muses this month, so here it is. First of all, if you've been following the two tracks of muse-isms flowing through the Creativity Portal, you'll know that Molly Anderson-Childers wrote the Nine Athenian Muses series and Jill Badonsky writes the ongoing Creative Solutions and Inspirations from the Modern Day Muses series.

Molly's Nine Athenian Muses series finished up in early October and now she is moving into a new series that encompasses muses from all around the world in a feature she's named Multicultural Muses. I'm excited about this new series and know you'll enjoy it. Be sure to read the introduction to the series before learning about Leanan Sidhe: Dark Faery Muse of the Emerald Isle.

Jill's next column for the Modern Day Muses series will continue in our next newsletter in addition to a new complementary series of Modern Day Muse Profiles to help you get more acquainted with the personalities of Aha-phrodite, Albert, Bea Silly, Spills, Lull, and the others. Don't miss it!

Introducing: Adventure Series Photo Prompts
Photography enthusiast Kristi Tencarre has created a new picturesque writing prompt series for the Creativity Portal based on her travels around the world. She invites you to engage in the first installment of her Adventure Series Photo Prompts where she showcases an array of photographic prompts of Egypt questioning you with its ancient ambience and modern marvels.

New Author Series Additions
Two new contributors to Creativity Portal's growing Author Series feature this month are Canadian rug hooking artist Deanne Fitzpatrick and "Writing from the Deeper Self" book developer Naomi Rose. Both of these creative women have an amazing wealth of wisdom and experience in their respective fields, and I know you'll benefit from their contributions to the Creativity Portal Web site.



Chris Dunmire
Creative Director and Publisher, Creativity Portal

Multicultural Muses
Invoking Leanan Sidhe: Dark Faery Muse of the Emerald Isle Darkness can make a fascinating subject for an artist to explore. Mine the darkness… see what is unveiled in the shades of night.

Adventure Series Photo Prompts
Adventure into Egypt What do the pyramids, marketplaces, mosques, and pharaohs of Egypt prompt in you?

Inner Voices of Creativity
Come Home to Yourself with Your Inner Journaler Is your Inner Journaler satisfied with the amount of journaling you've been doing lately?

An Open Mind
Why the World Needs Superman This was going to be the column where I plug my new book. It was the column where I was going to talk about how it feels to reach what I always thought would be the pinnacle of success — being a published author.

For Fun, Write a Book If you can let go of the fear of writing a book enough to imagine what it would be like to lift up the lid on your inner treasure chest and see all the precious things inside, you might start to actually look forward to writing a book.

Creative Focus: The Simple Secret of the Magnifying Lens
Like the sun in the sky, our creativity is ever present. Also like the sun, sometimes it may appear to set, going down over the horizon and out of view, but really it's just shining somewhere else we can't yet see.

Interview with Marlow Wyatt, Founder of The Girl Blue Project The Girl Blue Project is a self-awareness program for teenage girls "committed to awakening the truest potential in young women by empowering them to embrace who they are and giving them the tools to create whom they choose to be."
Plus: Interview with Mediabistro's Laurel Touby

What the Heck is a Creative Block? Things happen in the creative process, exactly as they are meant to, when they are meant to. But how does knowing that help you if you are experiencing a creative block?

Scrapbooking: What's the Attraction? Did you know that the art store Michael's has four aisles devoted solely to scrapbooking supplies?