Murphy and your muse are surely conspiring with one another. At least, that’s the case with my muse. The evidence is in.
I didn’t have any writing ideas all morning. One minute after driving away from the house, my muse gave me a great idea for a poem. (I’ll probably butcher the idea when I try to write the poem, but that’s beside the point.)
Fortunately, I have a pen in the car. (Learned from experience.) But not paper. (Perhaps I didn’t learn my lesson well enough.) But we writers are resourceful; I have plenty of napkins.
Now I just need to wait for a red light, traffic jam, funeral procession (now there’s a poor soul whose problem is much greater than my own), train, road construction, or one of the many delays that I ordinarily encounter virtually every time I drive anywhere.
But this wasn’t any ordinary drive. I wanted a red light. I just needed a few seconds to scribble down some words.
Green light. Green light. Green light. Ah, finally a red light. Where’s that napkin? Hey, it’s green already!
Meanwhile, my muse is feeding me more and more ideas for the poem. Then I get an idea for my blog. Then I get another idea for my blog. I know if I don’t write these down, it will anger my muse. She doesn’t like to repeat herself.
Where are all the red lights? How is it possible not to get a red light when you want one? I once drove 70 miles, getting every one of several lights red in two different cities. Oh, but that day I had been in a hurry.
I did manage to reach my destination and jot down some notes on a napkin. Then I went into the restaurant, only to think of yet another idea, with my napkin and pen back in the car.
Very funny, muse. We all know that muses have a great sense of humor. They really put the muse in amusement.
Of course, this isn’t the only evidence. We have storage rooms full of it.
Your muse and Murphy’s law: They’re definitely in on it together.
What has your muse done to you lately?
Chris McMullen, author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers, Vol. 1 (formatting/publishing) and Vol. 2 (packaging/marketing)
chrismcmullen 
I’m with you here… Hope you were able to jot down all the beauties. 🙂
I always feel like I’m forgetting something important. 🙂 My subconscious likes to hold out on me.
I know the feeling. 🙂
I don’t think of the possession as a muse. More like these characters invaded my brain and they’re probably never leaving, but they may quiet down a bit if I write their story. Their way.
That’s a neat way to think of it. 🙂
My muse decided to mess with my during the opening trailers of a movie this morning. Too dark to write on anything. It was rehashing old ideas and showing glimmers of a new one. I’m still trying to sort stuff out.
Yet another advantage of renting (or reading instead of watching the movie). 🙂 I hope you get it sorted.
It’ll take a few days. I have to write down every series/book idea and see what stays, what goes, and what merges.
True, true, true! I find the BEST way to get me kick-started when I’m in the middle of a writing slump, is for someone to take me away from my computer. A trip into the city will do it for sure – and I swear, sometimes you HAVE to be without pen and paper for inspiration to really swing into action.
The Universe, my friend, has a sense of humor.
That’s a good idea. Tell your muse to take her (or his) best shot. 🙂
🙂
I love to read and I like to write reviews. I feel I owe it to the author who has spent perhaps years in an attempt to entertain me in some way…even the not so good ones. When I am enthralled in a book, fantastic words come to me in how I would describe what I am reading, but once I finish the book…the magic is often gone. (Now, I have taken to making notes as I read. It is not as bad as a school project, but I feel it necessary.) And sometimes those magic thoughts and words come back to me while driving. Siri and I have become the best of friends.
I hadn’t thought of this with respect to reviews, but now that you mention it, I can remember this happening to me, too (though I don’t always get them back while driving). 🙂