I don’t know about you, but I’ve never felt the presence of this “Muse” other writers talk about.
“The word “muse” stems from Greek and Roman mythology, used to describe goddesses who preside over artistic disciplines. Today the word refers to a person who serves as an artist's source of inspiration ― traditionally, a role reserved for women.” (Huffington Post article called, What It's Really Like To Be An Artist's Muse)
Ah, even the arts are reserved for men, but I digress, and I am only 85 words into this post. (I just remember feeling annoyed by our current Prime Minister wanting to encourage women in science, when women in the arts are largely ignored.)
The idea that a muse is a person seems strange to me. It seems to stem from our overly romanticized idea of love, that we need a person to inspire us to create. HA! I can absolutely confirm that I bloody well don’t.
As a Christian, to me, the “Muse” is the Holy Spirit. I have found when I get out of the way, and trust the Spirit to lead me, my writing is much better. There were a couple of times in university where I received the following comments: It started out well, but you didn’t push the idea far enough (or something to that effect.)
I knew exactly the moment where I pulled back. When I stopped working with the Spirit and took over. I am not saying that the Spirit is the one writing. It is more like a partnership, if that makes sense. I am still me. The Spirit is still the Spirit. And, we work together to create something worthwhile. Something true.
I know that not everyone is Christian, so the Muse might be the Universe for you, or maybe you call your Muse, Bob. Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame gave a Ted Talk called Your Elusive Creative Genius. It’s definitely worth a view.
I just know that I cannot wait for the Muse to show up in order to write. I must either, i) sit my butt down at my computer and start typing or ii) plunk myself on the sofa with a pad of paper and pen in hand and start writing.
Either way, Ellie must show up for work. Kind of like this morning when I realized I hadn’t written my blog for Friday morning. Oops. Next week’s topic – Discipline?
I would love to hear your stories of creative inspiration, even if that inspiration is a literal person named, Bob.
Until next time,
Ellie