Tag Archives: Muse

Unispired

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This is when the real work of writing happens. When there’s no muse. There’s not a ‘special thing’ going on or any sort of ‘hey – look at the shiny distraction’ moments.

Putting words on a page isn’t an easy thing… or more correctly it’s not an easy thing to do well. Like any other muscle, the ability to write efficiently and effectivly requires practice. Anyone can splash words acorss the empty screen, but it’s a challenge to create.

I’m certain I’ve talked aobut this before, but I will again because that post was likely lost here (but my irritation clearly was not). There was a time when I was reading the ‘paper’. Not technically on paper anymore, but same idea. There was a column – written by a PAID columnist – that basically said “I’ve got nothing to say” in about 500 words or so. It was infuriating. That’s absolutely terrible – a columnist holding a position and potentially bumping some other important story and having NOTHING to say, and writing exactly that.

So, as a writer striving to be an author of a published novel (someday), this is where the work is. There’s no muse here. Just a blank page looking for more words in the story.

There is work in progress, but writing there means not neccessarily writing here. We shall see how it all shakes out…

What do you do when you’re not feeling inspired? How do you push past it?

Musing

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Sometimes I forget how much I used to ‘cheat’ and grab time to write from various places. A few minutes here, a couple of paragraphs there. These days those moments seem to be filled in, like water flowing down between ice cubes in your glass. The big objects are there and still relatively the same, the spaces in between are suddenly filled.

Here we are 2 weeks into the new year and I haven’t posted anything yet.

Looking back, it makes sense. There are lots of things I don’t share out here on the internet. There are things that people outside of my immediate, real world circle don’t need to know. There are things they don’t get to know. I realize that my readership numbers are not such that this is an actual problem… but perhaps someday. I will continue to treat this as if somebody actually reads this and cares.

So, along those lines I can say that while many things have changed, even more have stayed the same. Something I have noticed though is a distinct continuation of the creativity slump. When I looked back at my previous “welcome to the new year” post it showed that I’d read something more than 30 books that previous year. This past year I didn’t break 20. That’s dismal for me. A deepening slump.

I’ve submitted less of my writing as well. There just hasn’t been the inspiration… and it’s pretty clear that I need a muse. I’ve been pushing along my D&D playing and writing things for that, but it’s not translating into a creative bump the way it used to.

I have all the bits to work on miniatures and terrain… and have slumped terribly there too. It’s just not moving. There’s lots of amazing content out there to teach and show how to create excellent terrain. There are some amazing artists on my socials that show off great works (and let’s be fair, some not so great – but that’s just as helpful in many ways). I still haven’t been able to even muster a dungeon tile set.

So, what do I do? Where do I start?

I don’t know. I don’t have a good answer for that. It fills me with fear that the drive to do those things is seeping away. I love all that creative stuff. I crave great stories. I want my stories, my art, my creativity to be out there and be part of this amazing, creative world… and it’s just not going.

What do you do? How do you contact your muse?

Flexible

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One thing that the pandemic has done for me is given me a certain amount of flexibility. There are a number of times when I’d have the motivation to write and then need to be running off someplace where I’d lack the ability to actually get things typed up. Now, since just about everything is locked down it has given me the chance to take advantage of those moments. There is no place to run off to right now.

It’s nice to have the options to say, “I think pajamas and slippers all day today while I work at the computer”. No pressure. It has certainly helped.

It was never going to last. Intellectually that was easy to say, but emotionally it’s been difficult to track. It feels as though this change is never ending. Well, time is up for me.

I have been working from home (thankfully) since things have been shut down. Yes, the hours have been reduced, but I have still been on a schedule. Working days has meant that I don’t have constant ‘free time’ but outside of those hours has still been available. Starting on Monday May the 4th (Star Wars day!) I’ll be back in the office. Construction and related construction activities are coming back on line. Projects are getting underway.

In the future, when we look back at this time I wonder what we will make of the dream like state we floated through during these days of being stuck at home. I look forward to seeing how it has changed who we will become.