Romancing The Muse

 

As writer’s, we all go through those times where it seems as though creativity has completely dried up and that wonderful fairytale wilderness in the infinite realm of words which lives on the other side of our reality has shut its door and locked us out.

In those moments of desolation and desperation it can feel as though the Muse, herself, has rejected us as artists, as lovers – in the love-game of literary affection and  perpetual passion within the euphoria of the wordsmith.

But, and there is a but…

The Muse can be moved. She can be aroused. She can be taken by the hand, she can be kissed, and in doing so, she can be romanced.

Some say that the Muse is that feeling of passion an artist gets in a Perfect Moment, a moment so unrealistically real that the artist is forced to create art.  Some say that the act of creating art under such influence is a bi-product of some physical equivalence of metaphysical love making. Not that the art was the product of the Muse, but the product of the union between the artist and the spirit of creativity.

Regardless of what or who the Muse may be, she (or it) can be romanced. The Muse is possibly different for each of us.  To me the Muse is more like a lover; a warm hand, and passionate heart which brings the feeling of intoxication when around. No matter what you find your Muse to be, the key to unlocking the creative attributes that they, for some reason, release in you, is to romance them.

Romancing The Muse takes Work on the Artist’s Part -

It is not always easy to be romantic. In my life I am always trying to come up with ways to be romantic, but when it comes down to it: even someone who is as passionate as I am does not always feel like being passionate. It takes work sometimes for me to get into that ‘loving-feeling‘.  As for romancing the Muse, I have to keep myself moving. I have to take time to take walks along the river, or down town, or hide in that secret park down town that few people know is there. I have to keep my eyes open and write down things that I see that I know would be perfect in helping create that amazing moment later.

Work at doing what ever you can to keep the creative juices flowing.  Keep yourself alive by keeping yourself working at not falling asleep to the needs and desires of the Muse.

Romancing the Muse Means Knowing When to Just Give In -

Sometimes the Muse pursues you. Sometimes your Muse wants to get your creativity going. the Muse is creative life. She speaks to me in music, dreams, visions, songs, and other people. A touch from my Muse creates short stories. A kiss from her lips builds planets, cities, and civilizations in my mind. A walk with the Muse gives me the opportunity to understand everything and everyone around me.  When My Muse wants me, I must be ready to say “Here I am”. The Muse is passionate. The Muse is emotional, and full of potency. Unlocking the doors of limitless creative literary life is in her kiss.

When she wants me, I will be there. If she wants to dance, I will dance. If she wants to listen, I will listen. When she wants to kiss, I will be ready. When she just wants me, I’ll make sure I am not too busy with ’stuff’. Artists many times get so stuck on what they want to Muse to do for them, that they neglect her needs. This causes creative death.

When she calls out…know when to just give in.

Romancing the Muse Is About Not Missing the Moment -

Finally, there are also times when everything seems to just come together. The seconds turn to an infinity, the atmosphere changes, the earth becomes a platform to a dance between you and your Muse. Everything, and the purpose of everything is all about the Moment that has pulled you into its reality. You find yourself in a parallel universe that is 100% more real than reality.  Your Muse and You have just stumbled into an alternate Right Now, and what happens there is all up to you.

Moments are unique to those who discover themselves in them. They are different for each person. They are caused by feeling, circumstances, passion, emotion, the physical surroundings, You and your Muse. They can be easily missed, if the artist not open, ready, willing, or not aware of it.  Don’t miss a moment. It can be at a park, a river walk, a grave yard,  a church, or your porch. The place is just as important to everything thing else in the specific moment. Don’t miss it.

Romance Her, and then write, write, write!

SamTheWriter,

signing off.

www.samthewriter.com

Writing Junk to Become the Artist You Were Meant to Be!

My mornings start with a pen, paper, and a cup of coffee!

“When you write, don’t say, “I’m going write a poem.” that attitude will freeze you right away. Sit down with the least expectation of yourself; say “I am free to write the worst junk in the world.” You have to give yourself the space to write a lot without destination…If every time you sat down, you expected something great, writing would always be a great disappointment. Plus that expectation would also keep you from writing.”

- Natalie Goldberg/ Writing Down the Bones

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve shot myself in the foot, and probably been my own biggest source of writers block by my determination to write something amazing when ever I get sat front of my computer.

I, like many of you, write a lot. I am currently working on three novels, updating and re-editing my short stories (over 300) to start re submitting, working on two collections of poetry, writing three or four articles for the Examiner every week, devotionals and encouragement articles for The CypressTimes, and I send off 3 poems every four days to a card company, because they pay good for greeting card poems. Not to mention trying to keep up with my website, and blogs, and my social networks. I am also beginning a new international project called I AM POETRY: Poetry to Save the World. I am still collecting names of poets, pen and ink, pain, and sketch artists, as well as tattoo artists (so if you are one, send me an e-mail and I’ll send you some info, and you can decide if you want to get involved..sam@samthewriter.com) It’s sad but I do have a Twitter account, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, and I frequent FaithWriters, and other networks.

As a freelance writer it is my goal to sell enough articles, poems, and short stories to get me enough cash to buy some more time to finish one of my WOPs (Work In Progress), so every time I sit in front of my computer, I want what ever I am writing to be good (which means) salable. But that is not always going to happen, as we all know. I remember one night I submitted a poem to a editor, (who I had just sold three poems to, and got rave reviews) and he sent me an e-mail back saying, “Thank you Sam, for completely wasting my time. You wrote it fast, submitted it quick, and it is literary …”let’s use the word ‘poo’ here, it’s less colorful that the one he chose to use. I learned my lesson.

The key to writing great and producing real literary art more often, is by being consistent with our craft. Feel free to wake up in the morning, get your cup of coffee or tea, sit in front of your computer, and just write what ever is on your mind. It may turn out to be a poem, a great short story, the beginning of a novel, a blog entry, or a nasty piece of poo; and you know what: that is just fine.

Feel free to write stuff that stinks. Be ready and expect junk to pour out of you from time to time. It’s like literary detox. Pour yourself out on paper, over the key board. Because as you begin to do this, you’ll discover that you’re setting yourself free to the artist that you were born to be. In Natalie Goldberg’s book, Writing Down the Bones, she shares a story about how a young writer who lived in the same apartment complex came over to visit and Natalie let her take a bunch of her old note books. After a few days of reading the girl came back and told Natalie how reading some of her early ‘crap’ encouraged her. It made Natalie more real to the young writer. It also made the dream of someday becoming a great writer something to be grasped.

Everyone one has their junk. I have a lot of poo to put on paper, and so do you. Get to writing that nasty stuff. It will help shape you, make you, give you direction, hone your skills, discover the artist within, and most of all, by just letting go and letting it all out, it will help you set yourself free to be who you were meant to be.

Above all, have fun with the process and write, write, write.

SamTheWriter,

Signing off.

www.samthewriter.com

sam@samthewriter.com

Summer Love: The Writer’s time to revitalize and refresh their writing life

The best part of waking up

Coffee is first thing

it helps my pen write smoothly

sip and write: perfect

- a little fun haiku, from my haiku collection “Coffee & the Pen“

What gets you going in the morning? Do you have to be out of bed at a certain time to get to work or get the kids to school? Or are you one of those amazing people who have in inner alarm clock that goes off every morning without fail?

Personally, I need an alarm clock. Actually I need three of them: One sets on my night sand, and it is really annoying. The second one is my cell phone alert, and the third, and my most effective, is my wife getting angry that I am letting the other two blare forever. Then, I hit the brew button on my coffee maker so when I am finished taking a shower, I have a hot pot ready to be sipped on, and a project laying on my desk calling me.

Summer is a really great time for writers. If you have kids: you do not have to wake them up early and go through the morning routine of hurrying them through their morning rituals of clothes, breakfast, teeth, hair, shoes, lunch box, backpack (do a quick check to make sure your son’s new friend frog he found at the park yesterday didn’t mysteriously end up in his back pack for show-and-tell, again), rush out the door.

They usually sleep longer.

I have also read studies on sleep, and discovered that in the summer, when it is hotter and more humid, our body feels that it needs less sleep. We wake more during the night, sleep lighter, and can wake up earlier without too much of a fight with our wills. “Yeah right”, I can hear you say now. I use this these months as a summer-cleaning time mentally.

Some people talk about spring-cleaning, being a time when they go through their house and clean like a crazy person. Not that our homes are horrible messes, trash centers, or hurricane epicenters, but it is a time to refocus, restore, revitalize.  That’s how I view summer. Since I have more time to spend on writing in the morning, I don’t let it go to waste. If the summer heat is going to help me sleep less and still feel good, so be it.

I use to turn the ac way up to make up for the heat, but now I open the windows and let the morning warmth and birds chirping out side (which is actually the chirping of gossiping neighbors sitting on the porch next door, smoking, drinking coffee mixed with vodka, and chattering about the latest desperate house wife on the block.) which is perfect motivation to get me out of bed and down stairs.

Summer is so full of inspiration for the writer. The beginning of summer is a perfect time to clean out old files, dust off and revisit that manuscript your hammered out last summer, pull out your poetry notebooks and get them all typed into organized files on your computer, and get ready to start submitting like crazy, while writing new, fresh pieces, which you may use now, or, set aside for next summer.

Where ever you are, and whatever your schedule is, try and use all the opportunities this season provides you to reset, revitalize, and restore the goals you have for your personal writing life.

I hope that your summer starts out with a bang. Have a blast.

And if there is something that you like to do in the summer to kick off your writing, I’d love to hear about it. Comment here and share it with other readers, or drop me a line at Sam@samthewriter.com

Write, Write, Write

SamTheWriter, taking advantage of sweet summer love.