Freedom From The Mundane - A Writer's Blog

First off, I have a new blog reader. I'd like to welcome my wife, Gail, to the fold of my faithful and wonderful readers. Now there is two of you, I can refer to you as a readership in the proper sense (ie. plural) and I am overwhelmed with that. I hope she enjoys reading my blog. It's how I see the world and what inspires my writing. It's about being a writer, recognising that is who I am, and growing with my art. And just to get even more mushier, I luvsya babe!!

Slept in big style today!

I looked at the clock and saw it was 8:53 am. Not the worst news for me but Gail had 7 minutes to get her ass into the office. Women never cease to amaze me. She leapt out of bed and flew down the stairs like a possessed eagle, and by the time she landed she was dressed, had done her hair and make-up and was reaching for the car keys.

Off she sped and I got Laura ready and took her down to my sister-in-law's for the day. Is that what you call her? Donna is Gail's brother's partner. That makes her Gail's sister-in-law - kind of, because they aren't married. Who knows. Sister-in-Law it is until I'm told otherwise.

Got an e-mail from my Mum - she has just finished Hunting Jack; the second person to do so. She said it was "Thouroughly enjoyable" and that she "wishes it was a book." One step at a time, Mother. :-)

Hunting Jack began in September 2004. Since then I have had a total of 14 subscribers. Of these, 7 have fallen by the wayside at one point or another (4 after the first month, 2 after the second month, 1 after the third month, 1 after the fourth month and 1 after the fifth month). This would suggest the first half of the book needs more action and mystery implanted.

Of the remaining 5 current subscribers, two have completed the full story and given me feedback, one is on their last month subscription, one is in the seventh month and one in the fourth month. So by August 9th, I will only have 2 subscribers!

Make that 3 - I just got news of someone winning Hunting Jack competition, so they get a free first month.

I'll still need to look at a new wave of promotion if I am to get new subscribers. An aggressive but tactful campaign that is easy to implement. I'll need to draw up a detailed plan and think more about this.

The woman in the following two articles, Pamela Taylor, is a member of my writing forum. I urge you to have a read. I am astonished by her bravery and very proud to be able to say I know her.

Indystar.com

CBC News

Another woman, also on my writing forum, has a blog: Bloggin' (it's been linked on the left for ages so you should recognise it). Recently she has been talking about her Muse and referring to it as a person. This concept has spread throughout our small community like wild-fire and it led me to contemplate what mine is like.

What I am about to write may lead any psychiatrists reading to reach for your business cards and forward them onto me, but here goes anyway.

I had always considered 'muse' in an artists context to be a state of mind. I hadn't got beyond thinking more that if I was having a good writing day, then my muse was on form. A bad writing day would mean no muse was prevalent. It all depended on how open my mind was and my willingness to consider it that defined whether I was "in the muse" or not.

So I looked up the dictionary.

1. v. mused, mus-ing, mus-es
To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation.

This entry supports my initial take on the subject.

2. n.
Greek Mythology. Any of the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, each of whom presided over a different art or science.

Bit too deep for my purpose, but nevertheless the connection between and Greek Mythology and art is interesting.

3. muse
* A guiding spirit.
* A source of inspiration.

Aha! "A guiding spirit" or "source of inspiration" leads to the road where Anteann and others have gone when thinking about this, to the extent their muse's have not just grown in life but in personality too.

4. muse
* A poet.

I do enjoy poetry, therefore am I a Muse with a muse?

So who/what is my Muse and what is their personality like?

My Muse is definitely a woman. She is Scottish, is slightly older than me, has an ever-changing hairstyle and wears thin black glasses. She has a powerful aura and takes no shit from anyone, least of all me. She is very confident in herself, is the life and soul of the party and loves to get pissed and go to restaurants with her pals - mostly women. She is intelligent but likes to act silly. She is arrogant, appealing and funny to work with, she likes coffee, beer and smokes more than she should.

She loves to see me writing. I'm her wee project; a sideline that she works on and likes to keep a close eye on, but shelets me go in the direction I wish. She feels maternal towards me but other times more like a sister and she may try to guide me, without undue influence.

She disagrees with a lot of what I think, but instead of arguing tries to talk me round to thinking from the other side of the fence. She wants to see me grow as a writer and gets frustrated when I procrastinate. That's when she starts to play games with me and wind me up. She gets impatient with me when she feels I'm not doing enough and she thinks I should be doing more to tell people what I am/do.

She is a hard worker and pushes me to my limit at times; working into the hours and when I should be doing other things. But she knows when to relax and let me be for a day or two. She knows what I need as a writer and feeds my imagination with some of the weirdest and wonderful ideas, which is when she's at her best.

She needs a kick in the ass sometimes too when we are not in tune. If she hasn't the energy but I am raring to go, I have to persuade her gently to get up and help me. She never lets me down. She is an early morning person but loves to work when darkness falls and that's when she sends me some of my cracking ideas - as I'm falling asleep or as soon as I'm up.

She has always been my Muse, now that I think of it and give her a physical description. It's a long-term thing; a friendship, collaboration, of two totally different people.

Told you this post was going to get weird.

Tonight, my Muse had me working on the G8 story. I have had a bit of historical research to do, which I have then embedded fictionally in the story to give it A powerful contrast and strong taste. The ending is proving slightly troublesome as I don't know which way to go. Part of me thinks I need to have the two protagonists meet and talk, part says they should meet and with only a limited discussion we read about their thoughts on each other, and the last part of me thinks I've already written the ending and there is no need for them to meet at all. I shall ponder it some more.

The Fronds of Thought journal is staring up at me. I know what it's thinking; "why haven't you written anything yet?"

It's because I've been scribbling ideas down like mad and there are some things I need to collect, things to write and photo's to take before I actually enter anything. Work is going on - prep work - but I want to it to be of free thought with a point; not just a jumbled nonsense.

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