Wednesday, January 02, 2008

• The Muse Is A Lie

  I love to write.  I mean, write with a pen and paper.  Xanga is a bit more of a challenge.  Lately, I've been reading up on some ways to improve my writing.  Here is the most profound thing I've learned.  The muse is a lie.  Well, it exists.  But if you sit and wait for it, it probably won't come to you.  I kind of had a hunch about this and was relieved to see the experts feel the same way.

  So what do they say?  Just write.  Write until something good comes out.  No one is going to see your first draft, except for you.  And that feeling of self-loathing that you have from writing something horrible your first 9 or 10 tries is totally worth it when you finally see your work turn into what you want. 

  The action of writing in and of itself is enough to get the wheels turning in your brain.  If you wait around for profound ideas they'll probably come to you at the most inconvenient times (like while you're driving) and then you'll forget them.

  So, the moral of the story is be open to ideas.  But write, whether you have a muse or not.   There have been plenty of times when I've gone into my writing with no inspiration, but then as soon as I put my pen on the paper my thoughts just kind of come out like a flood.  And there are pages and pages.  And when I write like that I get the same endorphin-y feeling I get after I exercise.  That's where the best writing comes from.  El fin. 

   

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