Recipe for The Muse

All writers and artists think that they are the only one who struggles with their muse. In the case of writers, they see the finished book of a published writer and compare that to their own work-in-progress. They don't get to see the early drafts of that book; if they did, they would sometimes barely recognise it as the same work. Only the published writer of any particular book knows how many drafts, how many long hours were spent bringing it up to publication standard. We've all heard of an 'overnight sensation' who points out that it didn't happen overnight at all, that they had been there all along, polishing their craft so it gleamed amongst all the other struggling artists, until they were finally 'noticed'. It's the noticing that seems to happen 'overnight' not the polished performance, or book, or work of art.

A word of warning here: do not show your early drafts to family. If they love you, of course they are going to think it is wonderful. Generally, friends don't work either, so unless you know someone whose opinion you truly value, don't show it to friends either. Until your work is in book form you should not be seeking readers who will only offer you approval. When you are getting to final draft stage, and you need constructive criticism, you need other writers. At the beginning of your writing career, a writers circle or club is ideal. My post tomorrow will talk about these, and other options.

Forget about other writers and their muse and concentrate on the job at hand, the draft of the manuscript you are working on right now. In my opinion, muse is just a term that covers many aspects of writing. Here's my recipe for you to create your own muse (the proportions are my own; yours may be different. Experiment until you have it right.):

Creating a Muse

10% determination
10% commitment
1% inspiration
1% motivation

Add to the above - 78% perspiration and a sprinkling of passion

Use this mix on a regular basis, daily or weekly, whatever suits your program. Applying it in the same location each time will help your muse rise to the occasion.

As you progress, you will discover that you need less of one component and more of another. Everyone's muse is different; you just need to experiment to find your perfect mix. It's natural to feel insecure about your work, everyone does and just knowing this helps me over those days when my muse mix is a little off. I just adjust it and move on.

As you write, remember that nothing worthy of creation happens overnight.

Motivation and Inspiration

Most writers I know are not filled with, or struck by, inspiration every day, so where do they find the motivation to write? Someone much wiser than I once said that he sat down in front of a blank page every day, and if inspiration hadn't arrived by 9 a.m. he began without it! Writing is a little like exercise - one has to get into the habit of doing it often, or one doesn't do it at all. Like our physical muscles, the mind needs a warm-up routine; once our muscles are warm they are ready to work-out.

Motivation, for me, comes after I begin to work. When I first began writing, fear held me back. The words in my head were brilliant - I thought - but when I put them down on paper, once they became concrete, they were sadly lacking. But I stuck with it and in time the fear faded. To compare writing to exercising again, once you build up your muscles, the work-outs become easier. So it is with writing.

With any exercise routine, we begin small and increase the repetitions, or the speed, over time; so it is with writing if you find yourself without motivation and/or inspiration. Set goals for your writing; begin with a paragraph a day and gradually build this up until you are writing at least a page a day. Don't think too much about what you are writing, just do it. Soon it will be a habit and, like most habits, hard to break.

Keeping a journal also helps; a journal is for your eyes only and you will not be so critical. Record whatever you like in there: observations; snippets of overheard conversation; ideas; cuttings from magazines or newspapers; photographs ... and so on. If you prefer to look for inspiration, rather than wait for it to come to you, go through your journal on a regular basis; you might be surprised at the writing ideas your jottings will inspire.

Another way to get into the right frame of mind for writing is to read over what you wrote in your previous writing session. Don't worry too much about editing at this stage, just read to put yourself back into the world of your story, and then begin to write.

Try to write in the same place, and at the same time every day, or every week if that's all the time you can manage, and if possible don't use that space for any other activity. In time, just being 'there', in your writing space, will be all the motivation you will need.