Three creative corners — what they were making, where they got stuck, and what happened next 🐾
A quilt, a memoir, and a vegetable garden. Three creative projects that had been waiting. Three readers who finally returned to them.
I asked on Monday: what creative project do you have sitting in a corner? And you told me. The answers were wonderful — and I want to share three of them today, with what happened when AI entered the picture.
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From Nancy, 72, Vermont — the unfinished quilt
“I’ve been working on a memory quilt for my granddaughter for two years. It’s meant to have squares from her grandfather’s old shirts — he passed away four years ago. I kept getting stuck on how to arrange the blocks. Every time I spread them out on the floor, nothing felt right. I used the Getting Unstuck prompt and described the quilt, what the project meant, and specifically the arrangement problem. AI asked me a question I hadn’t considered: ‘Is there a sequence to these shirts that matters — chronological, by occasion, by color memory?’ That question completely changed how I was thinking about it. I arranged them chronologically. It felt right the moment I did it.”
Nancy — the quilt knows what it needs to be. AI just helped you hear it asking.
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From Charles, 68, Georgia — the memoir he started twice
“I’ve started writing about my career and the people I worked with twice now. Both times I got about twenty pages in and stopped. I couldn’t figure out how to make it interesting to someone who wasn’t there. I used the Creative Conversation Method — I shared the context and asked AI to question me rather than advise me. It asked: ‘What do you most want someone to understand about this time in your life that they couldn’t learn any other way?’ That question became the first paragraph of the third attempt. I’m on page sixty. I haven’t stopped.”
Charles — sixty pages and counting. The question was always there. AI helped you hear it.
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From Ruth, 75, Washington — the vegetable garden she stopped planning
“My husband and I had a vegetable garden for thirty-five years. When he passed, I stopped. This spring I wanted to start again but I couldn’t figure out how to do it for one person — everything we grew was for two. I used the Creative Visioning prompt and told AI what the garden meant to me and what made it hard to return to. It asked me: ‘If you were making this garden entirely for yourself — what would you grow that you never got to grow because he didn’t like it?’ I planted an entire bed of herbs and edible flowers. Things I’ve always wanted. The garden feels mine in a new way now.”
Ruth — this one made me put the phone down for a moment. A garden that becomes yours in a new way. That is a beautiful thing.
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Tell me your creative corner
If you have a creative project waiting — something you’ve been meaning to return to — hit reply and describe it. What is it, how far did you get, and where did you stop? The best creative corners from this week will appear in next Wednesday’s post, with the exact prompt that might help you return.
📅 Catch up on this week:
🎬 Sunday: How I Use AI for Creative Projects Without Losing My Voice
🎬 Tuesday: The Creative Conversation Method
Come back Thursday for the full lecture — 5 principles for building a creative practice with AI that keeps your work entirely yours. It’s the most important lesson of the week.
Hit reply. Tell me your creative corner. 🐾
— Debbie
AI Puppy Playbook