My Muse

Muse
n.
a. A guiding spirit.
b. A source of inspiration

Sometimes I hear other writers mention things about their "muse". For example, in an excerpt from Deborah Elliott-Upton's blog on criminalbrief.com: "HGTV is giving away another Dream Home. This one is in New Mexico in a space on the map where the crosswinds seem to invite everyone’s Muse to come and play. I’ve been to several writer’s conferences in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area and have always come away with more ideas than when I arrived." But I first read it mentioned in Inkdeath, by one of my favorite authors, Cornelia Funke. So, after reading Deborah's article, I looked up "muse" to see what exactly it is.

Really, it's precisely what I expected. So, I assume every writer has a muse, their inspiration, of sorts. But, personally, my own muse would be tailored to my own personality. My muse is wicked and tricksy. Just like me. She (I can't help but put a gender on it) shows up right when I can't write down my ideas.

The worst is when I'm in the shower, which is where I always come up with ideas, no matter what. Can't really bring a pen and paper in there to be prepared. Then she comes around usually when I'm in the middle of class and can't forgo my classwork to write my ideas down (but I did do that in Spanish class, because we had a substitute teacher today). The most inconvenient time is right as I'm falling asleep. Like last night, I wrote a song chorus in my mind and had to force myself to get up at about midnight, grope around for a pencil, find my notebook and write it down. I'm glad I did, though, because now I can't remember what it was for the life of me.