My Muse’s odd visits.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com

My Muse’s odd visits.

By David Joel Miller, writer, blogger, and mental health professional.

My Muse shows up at the oddest times.

Creative people, writers, in particular, are fond of talking about the Muse. Several of the more famous writers and writing coaches whose works I read describe their relationship with their Muse. I can’t say that my relationship with whatever that group of people who sparked my creativity should be called is anything like those descriptions I read in the writing textbooks. But I think, in all fairness, I should tell you a little bit about when the muse visits and how that connects with my writing and other creative endeavors.

The Muse frequently comes at inconvenient times.

I know the standard wisdom is that the best way to invite the Muse is to set a regular time for writing. My writing efforts, along with all my other endeavors, are more like binges than consistent behavior. Unfortunately, I have too many projects I want to work on, and something always gets pushed to the back burner.

My Muse likes to interrupt.

The Muse often visits when I’m working at my day job. I have learned to adapt to these sporadic visits. I know I need to stay focused on my day job. But once that idea pops into my head that what they’re describing would be a great twist for the novel I’m working on or that I should make a video about the problem they’re describing, it’s hard to get that thought out of my head and easy to lose my focus on what I am trying to do. The best solution I found for the Muse’s tendency to interrupt is to keep a pad close by and quickly write the idea down before it escapes.

The net result is that I have a large pile of notes on my desk, many of which make absolutely no sense when I read them after the Muse has come and gone.

My Muse doesn’t like my writing desk.

The Muse is much more likely to show up whenever I get up from my desk and decide to go somewhere else and do something else. One of my goals has been to become more physically active. This goal moved much higher up on my list of priorities after I had major surgery a couple of years ago. I try to walk 4 miles per day with my minimum effort set at 2 miles per day. I hope my neighbors can see in the window of my office late at night because I will keep walking up and down the hallway until I get that minimum 2 miles walked or midnight puts a stop to this foolishness.

My Muse’s preferred time to visit is when I am outside walking around. She is likely to start jabbering at me with a large number of possible ideas, and I’m trying to concentrate on walking around in large circles on my driveway and not falling down. I know walking is supposed to be an automatic habitual behavior, and for me, it usually is. But it’s hard to concentrate when the Muse is yelling in your ear. I could cope with this strange behavior on her part if you would at least stick to one subject, but she likes to suggest ideas for all kinds of unrelated creative projects. Frequently, I end up running into the house between laps around the driveway and writing those ideas on my notepad. The idea for this post started out just that way.

The Muse often brings a group of others with her.

If it were only me and the Muse, we could probably work this conflict out, but she likes to bring other people with her. As I’m completing the third lap around my large driveway, the Muse whispering in my left ear, my inner critic shows up and begins to jabber in my right ear. Frequently, he tries to talk me out of being creative and reminds me that I still have a lot of paperwork that I need to do. Of course, the spirit of cleanliness will show up about this time and remind me that I haven’t washed the breakfast dishes and the kitchen floor needs mopping. None of these other projects are things I can successfully farm out since I currently live alone.

The Muse likes to compete with my leisure time.

No matter how long I sit at the typewriter (computer) writing (dictating), the Muse doesn’t seem to want to interfere with my creativity. She does, however, come in for a visit whenever I put down the writing project and pick up one of the large stacks of books that sit on the shelf behind me, waiting to be read. It’s not that I find ideas for my writing in those books, but rather the Muse thinks I shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy reading and starts making all kinds of suggestions for totally unrelated creative projects.

So, what’s the best way to get the Muse to contribute to my creativity?

I found a couple of things that increase the probability of the Muse visiting. First, sitting down to write something every day, whether I have an idea or not. I don’t think the Muse likes to contribute to this process, but the minute I give up and go for a walk, she will show up and tell me all the things I should have written. If I rush back to the desk fast enough I can write them down before the thoughts escape.

Secondly, I find that she is more likely to show up whenever I am doing automatic, fast-thinking behaviors, like going for a walk, washing the breakfast dishes, or doing some other mundane chore. I believe that the Muse does not like to compete for my attention, so any activity that requires me to concentrate on something other than being creative discourages her visits. But any time I let my mind relax she’s likely to show up along with two or three of her friends who all want to talk to me at once. The hard part is filtering out the advice about writing from the advice about marketing and advertising.

If you have had a different experience with whatever the people are who show up and whisper to you about your creative projects, I would love to hear them. Please leave a comment below, or feel free to contact me using the contact form.

Best wishes. David Joel Miller.

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