Wooing The Muse

Writing should be easy now, right? I have Creative Writing BA from Eastern Washington University, I got a research/writing heavy MA from the Vancouver School of Theology in Vancouver, BC. And now I live in Portland, Or home Powells, The Attic: A Haven for Writers and more writers than you can shake a stick at.

And besides my book – The Boston 395 – is out now as ebook. Started for the dot.bust and completed in response to the economic downturn.

Writing SHOULD be easy.

But two years of writers block tells me otherwise. Two years of economic downturn, no-to-little employment have left me dry in the well of my soul. Six months of a day job that at “full-time” (tell me, employer, how is 28 hours full time?) still can’t cover my bills and my energy for narrative, story and language is almost tapped out.

So I am starting something new – I am setting a date with the muse and showing up to see if she bothers to meet me. I arrive, coffee in hand, The New Pornographers playing on my Spotify and if I am really lucky the muse is there to greet me, like a wayward lover.

Some days the muse and I pick away at my young adult novel, or we prep/edit/promote The Boston 395. Some days we just play with a few lines, shifting words and tenses to see what is possible.

Some days the muse does not arrive and I grief, push at some words and turn off The New Pornographers and turn to Sarah Kirland Sniders ‘Penelope’ song cycle instead.

The muse has yet to be honest with my about why she hesitates to commit to our relationship. We used to be so close, spending hours a day pounding out a story, editing in a deep sweat and the retiring to a good book. We have become estranged. But all epic romances – and, my Muse, have we not been epic in our time together – have their ups and downs. So I will commit to showing up, coffee in hand and file open and I know in time I will woo her back and our union will be magical!