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Prayer to my Muse

triciajenkins2001Leave a comment

Have you read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield yet? He writes candidly (painfully) about the challenges and obstacles we creative types burden ourselves with. And he suggests ways to overcome our self-sabotage.  Like praying, or inviting, our Muse to be present whenever we begin our work. 

 “Artists have invoked the Muse since time immemorial. There is great wisdom to this. There is magic to effacing our human arrogance and humbly entreating help from a source we cannot see, hear, touch, or smell.” 

I’ve felt the Muse with me many times while in my creative stream. Pictures, colors, words, ideas swirl around and ping me. I can’t explain where all this comes from, but I like Pressfield’s theory that a magical, ethereal source is present.  Starting now, I’m taking Pressfield’s advice to entreat help from the Muse, Angels, or higher power that loves what we co-create. 

Prayer to my Muse

Thank you, Muse, for your inspiration and guidance to help me write what is meaningful and helpful to myself and others. Amen

muse

noun [C]UK  /mjuːz/ US  /mjuːz/ literary a person, or an imaginary being or force that gives someone ideas and helps them to write, paint, or make music: 

The muse has left me – I haven’t written any poetry for months!

Juliet was not only the painter’s best model but also his muse.

10 ways to squeeze in 10 minutes

triciajenkins2001Leave a comment

ostriches-838976_1920 (2)Here in the States, we just celebrated Thanksgiving Day. It’s a busy week of grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and visitors. My sister, her four adult children and their children came for the week. We had so much fun! But it was a challenge to write for 10 minutes every day with so much company. And, in the midst of all the activities, I got a great idea for a fictional character and a scene for a book or short story. So I had to write! I had to squeeze in 10 minutes between the cooking, shopping, playing, talking, visiting, etc. You can too:

  1. Add 10 minutes to your day by setting your alarm 10 minutes earlier than usual.
  2. Write at the kitchen counter while you’re waiting for the water to boil or the potatoes to cook or the rolls to get burned – I mean browned. (I learned that 10 minutes is too long for rolls to be in the oven!)
  3. Lock yourself in the bathroom for 10 minutes. (Note: this doesn’t work very well if you have children in the house because they see the closed bathroom door as their opportunity to have a conversation with you!)
  4. Sit in your vehicle in a well-lit parking lot at the mall or the grocery store and write for 10 minutes.
  5. Or, sit in your vehicle in your driveway or parking lot and write for 10 minutes.
  6. Invite your company to go with you to the library or a coffee shop where you can write for 10 minutes while they read or enjoy a snack.
  7. Write while your mother/sister/husband/niece/nephew is talking. Look up occasionally or nod your head to appear as if you’re paying attention.
  8. Announce that you’re going to take a 30-minute nap. Write for 10 minutes; sleep for 20.
  9. Ask whoever you’re with to write for 10 minutes with you. My sister Becky and write together and sometimes we read what we wrote out loud.
  10. Before you turn in for the night and go to sleep, turn off the television, tablet, computer, smartphone and then write for 10 minutes.

I’m re-reading “How to Write a Nonfiction Book in 21 Days That Readers LOVE!” by Steve Scott. He writes for 2-hours every day and tells how he does it in this book. Someday…