You Have To Fight For Every Word You Write
Have you ever wondered how writes, well, write? How they get inspired, work through the lonely late nights to see their books, like children, go out into the world. Some think its easy, that the muses just come to them, whisper in their ear, paint pictures of what we want to put into words.They are SO WRONG. I learned that the HARD WAY.
The muse isn't what inspires authors to continue writing, its simply A THING THAT COMES ALONG sporadically that makes things flow. Personally, I love chasing the muse - its actually why I love to write. I enjoy sitting at my laptop, my writing journals to the side, fighting for every word for ten or twelve hours, only approving a few hundred. Then, right when I'm brushing my teeth, or laying down to sleep, my fickle, heartless muse decides to mess with me and gives me the words I'd been looking for all day. And I'm not even being sarcastic. At least, not most of the time.
MUSES ARE CRUEL until you get to know them, and it can take years before that happens. Most of the time, it seems, muses like things a certain way. Mine always wants me in the middle of the night, and can't stand being around me in the mornings (I think this is because nobody is on Twitter).
It hates when my husband is around, because it doesn't want to be look at - its bashful, and EASILY SPOOKED. Also, being ADD and Bipolar just as I am, it gets distracted by shiny things. It likes soda before midnight but coffee after 4 am. Lots of chai spice creamer. It needs noms when at a coffeehouse, but is a finicky eater and only comes out when I get a seat in the corner.
But just because I see a pattern doesn't mean I go play during the day and then wait for it to come when the bribes are in place. I've gotten my muse out during the middle of the day many times before. I carry my 2 writing journals - one for scenes, another for character development and research - with me at all times, in case I get a freaking awesome idea. And it happens, because I still live my life. I still read, watch TV, go out with my friends. That time is called *research*. Because the best thing to write about is what you know, and if you don't experience life, then you don't know much. I mean, do YOU know what PWNED means? Or FTW? I had to freaking google that sh*t, because I was like, WTF? Then I remembered playing WoW with my neighbors and seeing that.
Did you see that? That was me, LIVING MY LIFE. But you may be the kind of writer who loves to go out to da clubz, or lectures, or WHAT HAVE YOU. Major thing - just live your life the way you want. Because your whole life as an artist is about CHASING YOUR MUSE.
No Comments