Sometimes I think my Muse is testing me with distractions to see just how committed I am to serving Her. Remember the story of Job? He lost his livestock, his children, his health - all to prove his devotion to God. I suspect this is one of Her favorite stories, albeit She doesn't wreck havoc in my life to such an extreme.
Technically speaking, work shouldn't qualify as a distraction, as it provides the means for the tools I use to pay homage to my Muse, but a distraction it is nonetheless. Not just in terms of time, but also in terms of mental energy and strategic thinking. Whether She wants to believe it our not, I only have a limited number of eureka ideas in a day before my brain burns itself out, and since I start the day off at work, a large portion of that mental power is expended before I even have the chance to say my first prayer to Her.
Another distraction is the time spent on working with other people on their projects, watching their movies, and trying to provide a little bit of encouragement. I initially thought my Muse would applaud my efforts to bring other people to Her feet, but, no, apparently each person has their own Muse and therefore my efforts do nothing for Her.
Of course, family eats up pieces of my time, but I refuse to apologize to Her for that.
The distractions She curses me for following, though, are the idle daydreaming, wandering internet searching, kicking my feet back and staring out the window, flipping through frivolous magazines (my voracious appetite for books, on the other hand, appeases Her as it directly feeds my inner inspiration), and similar inane activities. But here is where we reach a standoff - I blame Her for letting my creative juices run low, and She blames me for not prioritizing Her enough.
And that is where She and I sit this morning. Staring each other down. Both wanting the same thing but neither one willing to give an inch.
Excuse me....there's a bird singing outside my window and I want to see if he's making a nest....oh wait, I'm thirsty and there's no Dr. Pepper in the house...drat, is that really the time?
1 day ago
5 comments:
The Curse strikes again!!
Verily, the Muse is a harsh mistress, so there are but two things you can do:-
1) Beat her mercilessly with a stick and demand she adjusts her timetable to match yours (doesn't tend to work too well, in my experience...)
2) Accept that the fickle minx has her own agenda that rarely matches yours and grab whatever moments you can to pin her down and drain her of her creative juices, then dash down what occurs before the next distraction calls you away.
...oh... and board up the window... birdies disturb the Muse :P
Oh don't I know this scenario too well.. the Muse is there at your shoulder when you don't have the time to pay her due, whispering ideas in your ear you'll forget because you don't have the time right now to write 'em down..
.. and then, when you have the time to listen attentively, she's sulking and won't talk to you.
The moments when both of you act in concert are often few and far between, but always worth the wait. :)
Girlfriend - I have been exactly where you are sitting! I feel your pain - it reminded me of the book "The War of Art" - which I highly recommend. An excerpt: "What I Know- There's a secret that real writers know and wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write."
Hang in there! We are all with you!
I can sympathise entirely. But I think it's what they call "life" (not that I would know).
Keep on truckin'! (I don't know why I said that).
Thanks for the inspiring words!
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