AWAITING MY MUSE

Seeking Inspiration Today

That’s what I use for an excuse when I want to goof off and just watch movies for awhile. Watched three, none worth commenting on, although the last two were romantic comedies and made me want to write one of those for a change.

Only wrote 1556 words on the novel today, and I’m blogging after midnight. Decided to check the muse, wasn’t sure after finding these images. These old girls in the Greek frieze above look as bored as I feel. The Nine Muses were the daughters of Apollo and interested in inspiring the creative arts: Clio (history), Euterpe (music) , Thalia (comedy), Melpomeni (tragedy), Terpsichore (dance), Erato (love poetry), Polymnia (mimicry art & grammar), Ourania (astronomy) and Calliope (the superior muse -heroic poems and rhetoric arts). Since I’m working on a new historical romance, suppose I should summon Clio and Erato, but those have more modern connotations, and I’m definitely not writing erotic fiction.

This painting by John Singer Sargent at least has the ladies moving around Apollo.

My Nine Sources of Inspiration

Books, I read  a lot. Have shelves of books, a well-worn library card, and the Kindle App on everything I own. These days, I am downloading more than I take off the shelf, finding it easier to keep things in focus on my tablet. I intend to read far more than I do. Start way too many books these days that I don’t finish. Feel incredibly guilty, but there is so much information out there to consume (3.9 million books on Kindle alone), and who has the time. Love finding myself hooked and unable to put the book down. Read hoping to find more of these.

Television, we have cable. Since we each have one, I call them dueling remotes. My husband likes sports, news, and flipping. I like some news, reality television, old movies, new movies, new television shows. Find it less and less interesting these days – with far too much flipping. Most days I watch my game shows (Jeopardy and Wheel) and nothing else. Today I over indulged in movies.

Movies, we just got back from time with the grandchildren. They were trying to decide what movie Granny would like to watch, when Grandpa yelled, anything. She will watch anything. And that’s true. Don’t enjoy horror, raunchy comedy, or comic book movies. But if someone wants to watch a movie with me, I am willing to give it a try.

Magazines, no longer subscribe, but get half a dozen anyway from memberships. Find I read more than enough articles on-line. Just Googling a topic and then skimming several until I find one with the answers and depth I need.

Wikipedia, I know it’s not reliable, but by following the annotated references, can usually find the information needed. Again, Goggle search brings more material than one can ever read, plus access to books and historical documents from major libraries. Turn to one of my three sets of Encyclopedia at home if I haven’t found what I want.

YouTube, if I’m trying to learn how to do something and I’ve read about it, listened to webinars about it, and asked people, then I turn to YouTube and watch someone show me how to do it. All I know about Gimp, formatting documents for Amazon, screenwriting format, I’ve learned on YouTube.

Blogs, read the blogs written by experts in the area, whether historical research, writing, or publishing. Endless free material out there at the end of a Google search.

Newspapers, dating myself, but I love to open a daily newspaper and read from first page to last, working the crossword and other puzzles as I go.

People, have a large group of writer friends and participate in two writer’s groups each month as well as online Facebook groups. Someone has the answer. Someone can and will give you honest feedback on what you are writing. Well worth the time to ask them for help.