Back by popular demand …
I glance at the floor next to my desk, where my despondent Muse has been sitting for days now. His wings lie dull and shaggy on the carpet beside him; his coat and boots are covered with grime. He glares up at me from behind his hair and I notice he’s added a few streaks of blue and green to complement the purple streak in his emo look.
Well?” I type.
Yeah,” he replies.
“Yeah, what?”
“I told you. You should have kept this thing between you and me in the closet where it belongs.” He sets his elbows on his knees and rests his chin on his ring-encrusted fingers.
I sigh, then type, “We all make mistakes sometimes, M. But everyone says they love you. And you’re not in my stories, so the only way they’ll ever get to meet you is on the blog.”
“Why do they need to meet me?”
“Because I think you’re wonderful. I want to share you.”
He snorts at that and shakes the multicolored strands of hair out of his black-outlined eyes. “Why would anyone want to deal with this?” He indicates his lithe frame, the battered wings, the stud in his tongue.
“Because,” I type patiently, “We all have parts of us that don’t make sense. We all hurt, M. You are an expression of that in me. By sharing you, I hope to brighten the days of those who read us.”
“Why? What have they done for you lately?”
I stare at him, puzzled. “You don’t know? All the kind words they leave in the comments, the critiques, the encouragement I get from the Insecure Writers, from the Boot Camp forums—they’ve all helped me so much. I want to pay that forward. These words, making you real, making my stories real, are part of what makes my days worth getting out of bed for. I want to share that with those who’ve encouraged me to keep going.”
His gaze wanders about my room, over the hot chocolate steaming next to my laptop, then lingers on the snowflakes drifting earthward outside my window before stopping at the half-finished novel revision spread out on my desk. “Gotcha,” he observes, and waves his hand dismissively. “Then, carry on, Writer-Babe.”
So, apparently my Muse is back to stay! Does your muse put up a fuss when your ignore her or him? Who encourages you to keep going?
Images courtesy of Marius Muresan @ stock.xchng, and Wojtek Wozniak @ stock.xchng, and Milos Luzanin @ BigStock
He just needed to know he was appreciated!
I never should have doubted … but, I’m glad to find my muse unscathed and ready for more fun. 🙂
Yay!!! So glad he’s back 🙂
Me too, Jamie!
Your muse is so hot. I seriously need to find me one of those. Lately, my son is my muse. I just started a new draft based on his childhood dream (that he recently realized he hasn’t let go of) to find buried treasure. So far so good. Glad you decided to keep the muse posts. They never disappoint.
Dreams are such a cool source of inspiration!
Contemplating leaving the muse chats off the blog made me realize how much I love posting them. Writing the muse is like a snuggling into a comfy sofa with a good book. 🙂
I haven’t heard from mine in a week or two, and I know she’s about to have a hissy fit.
And she sure did! It was fun to read about her antics, and I’m glad to have met yet another muse. 🙂
She’s been worse. An old post of mine called Purple Nurple still gets picked up by search engines.
Thanks for visiting.
Your awesome bad boy is back! Yay! He never fails to make us smile, even when he’s grouchy.
My muse, on the other hand, has been on a galactic vision quest, out of range and out of my mind. So, until he reappears, my husband and my critique partner inspire me with their faithful love of my stories:)
A galactic vision quest sure sounds exciting! I bet he’ll have all kinds of stories for you when he gets back.
Muses get that way sometimes, off sulking on their own, I know …
Yay! The muse is back!
*hides duct tape behind back* I had nothing to do with it, officer. That wasn’t me at Kristen Lamb’s blog. You must be mistaken.
😛
LOL, Melissa! I knew I could count on my blog friends to set things right. 🙂
Me and my muse have conversations. You see, she’s a rather unruly, oooh shiny! kind of muse and reminding her that perhaps finishing a story might be in order tends to send her off in a cross-armed huff, where she proceeds to ignore me until I wave enough shiny in her face that she just can’t help it.
Thus, I tend to read extensively and poke and prod with more raw material when she’s not cooperating until she throws up her hands and says, You’re doing it all wrong! and gets back to work.
She reminds me of Eugenides in Queen of Attolia:
“You have to believe him, because he’s going to have your entire palace up in arms and your court in chaos and every member of it from the barons to the boot cleaners coming to you for his blood, and you are going to have to deal with it.”
Attolia smiled. “You make him sound like more trouble than he is worth.”
“No,” said Eddis thoughtfully. “Never more than he is worth.”
🙂 Isn’t that the truth, Liana.
And I used to have no trouble finishing, but lately, the ideas have exceeded the time I have to complete them. I used to think that was a good thing; now I’m not so sure!
Either way, I think we’re lucky to have muses who poke their heads in at least once in a while. 🙂
Farley is my muse and he wags had tail to encourage me to write 🙂
Awww, that is so sweet! And I always enjoy his Friday posts. 😉
That is priceless, Kristina. I may never be able to write without searching the floor for my muse!
Apologies–Kirsten. It’s all her fault–Ouch!
You never know where the muse might appear next, Jacqui! Mine likes to play hide and seek in the backyard too. 😉
I don’t know if it’s so much my muse that puts up a fuss if I ignore it, so much as it’s a feeling of guilt that I’m not putting in what I need to in order to make my writing dreams become real. It’s hard to keep it going sometimes, and I know that’s something we all struggle with.
By the way, Kirsten…today I tagged you for a blog hop that apparently happens on Monday where we answer questions about our writing process. If you’re interested, you can find the details in my latest post.
I recently read a post at Writer Unboxed about how different writers work in very different ways–some write every single day, some in bursts and then have long dry spells. It really helped me understand how every writer doesn’t work in the same way. You will achieve your dream on your own schedule, Mike. Muses can be very patient if you show them why the other parts of your life that are taking up your time are important. Your academic aspirations are very admirable, and your writing will come back when there is time for it again.
Thanks for tag! Very interesting blog hop, and I think my blogging schedule (Hah! What schedule?!) will accommodate a post for next Monday. 🙂
My muse is a real guy who gives me deadlines and pesters me if I don’t write! Even so, it doesn’t always work 😉
The cool thing about a real guy muse is that it must be great when you write something he loves! Positive reinforcement is the best kind. 🙂
I confess, I covet your muse 🙂 going to bed now. See you “backstage at the blog” tomorrow!
🙂 He visits this blog of mine quite often, so you haven’t seen the last of him!