When I first began writing, I never really thought of creativity in terms of muses. Nope, back then, it was just me with the writing pad, the typewriter, the word processor, and eventually, the keyboard, hammering away at an idea that wouldn't leave me alone, and struggling to get down on paper what was in my mind. Just me . . . and the {insert writing instrument of the day here}.
Come to think of it, that does sound kind of lonely, doesn't it? Maybe that's why my muse finally swatted me over the head with her fairy dust wand and opened my eyes to her beneficent presence.
I have but one . . . but she has many faces.
I'm not sure quite how to describe her, but I know she's there. At times she is a fluttering, shimmering, sparkling deva that brings humor and wit to my stories, darting here and there about my shoulders as though wanting to be sure I get it all just right. At other times, she is a terrible taskmaster, her wand turning into a staff of power, heavy and gnarled, lending darkness to my writing where needed, and driving me to press on at even the most difficult moments.
When she's with me, the words flow, the ideas are effortless from brain to fingers, and I "drop into the page" as I'm writing, swallowed up by the story that is as much a part of me as my everyday life. When she's sulking because I'm not listening closely enough, every sentence is a battle, an entire paragraph a major accomplishment. She's feisty, opinionated, at times even snarky, and she knows just what I need at any given moment to turn me on, story-alistically speaking. She even knows when to back off, to give me time to recoup my energies. And when it's time to get back to work, she oft-times comes softly in dreams, whispering snippets of story, of people, of lost hopes and secrets and lies, and musing over what might be.
Her name is Leda, by the way. I don't know why. It just is.
How about you? Do you have a muse, or even gang of them? What gets you going, creatively?
Mad {madly}, not crazy, just muse-ically blessed :)
