TIP: Saying Yes/No To The Muse

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by lovelyxmalia, Nov 11, 2007.

  1. lovelyxmalia

    lovelyxmalia Banana Hammock Lifetime Supporter

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    Writer's Book of Days - Judy Reeves

    Saying No to the Muse

    Let's say you're in the midst of a writing session, chugging along at a good rate, maybe you're arm wrestling it some, trying to get where you know you want it to go. Suddenly, you feel a buzzing little whisper that tickles your ear or a slight tugging at your psychic sleeve. Instead of tuning in for a minute to see what might want your attention, you brush it off; you keep trudging forward, certain that the direction you're going in is the only road home.

    Or let's say you do take notice of that quick flash of thought or niggling little idea, but with hardly more than a sideways glance, you dismiss it like royalty with a serving girl. Whether you say the following words aloud or not, when thoughts like these cross your mind, you're saying no to the Muse.

    • My character wouldn't do that
    • That's stupid!
    • I can't possibly write that.
    • How does that fit in with what I'm writing?
    • I need more time to think about that.
    • You're getting in the way of what I'm doing here.
    • I don't have the energy to follow you.
    • You're scaring me.
    • I don't understand what you want me to write.
    • Just let me do this first.
    • Hold that thought, can you.
    • That's not logical.
    • That's boring. No one is interested in that.
    • That could never happen.
    • Ah, that feels a little too painful. Maybe later.
    • Help me with what I'm doing here, and we'll get back to your idea.
    • That's cute, but it wouldn't work here.
    • Too far out. Nobody would believe it.
    • Can you come back tomorrow?
    Though she has the patience of a saint, the Muse doesn't like to be ignored. If you don't pay attention, she might stop paying calls.


    Saying Yes to the Muse

    The Muse doesn't keep a time schedule. She may ignore your requests for her presence and then show up when you least expect her and when it's most inconvenient. She does not honor demands. Rather, she likes to be coaxed, prepared for, made welcome. And then, some wondrous, surprising times, she simply appears. Like a gift, or grace.

    As a writer, or any artist, it's important to always welcome her, to accept her favors and presence. If you shun her, she's likely to find you an unreliable host and withhold her visits. Say yes to the muse by:

    • Keeping pen and paper always nearby to write down those lines and ideas and thoughts - in your car, beside your bed, carried with you as you go for walks, work in the garden, do the dishes.
    • Honoring the gift by writing it down as it comes; get out of the shower, pull off to the side of the road, excuse yourself from a conversation. Like a dream, you may believe you'll remember, but these visitations are tenuous, gossamer threads of imagination or intuition and disappear like morning mist into the sunlight.
    • Leaving an open space in your mind. Try to not always be thinking, planning, evaluating. Breathe in and out and let your mind be at rest, open and welcoming to gentle unplanned thoughts and ideas.
    • Setting a place for the Muse with lovely little things: candles and flowers, music and art, colors and textures, scents; things you love that have meaning for you.
    • Being present at an appointed time. Some say that if you show up at the same place and the same time every day, your creative self will know it's time to go to work. The Muse will know where and when to find you.
     

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