TRAIN YOUR MUSE

It has been my habit . . . for the past eight months . . . to post a hypnosis-related article called "Trance Tuesdays" . . . on my blogsite . . . every third Tuesday of each month. Well . . . the third Tuesday of the month is here . . . and it seems like it came around way too soon this time . . . I guess because November 1st was a Tuesday.

I thought I'd BE FINE . . . with only one hypnosis-related post due each month . . . but I find myself unprepared . . . which reminds me of my college years. Could it REALLY be a month . . . since I posted the last Trance Tuesday? I'm beginning to realize . . . why I could never work . . . in a normal capacity . . . with writing schedules . . . and deadlines. They stop me in my tracks. It's a good thing I didn't pursue journalism. My novel, "The Zedland Chronicles," took seven years to complete . . . much of the time spent waiting for the writer's block to dissolve.

My muse is undisciplined . . . just like my dogs. She disappears for weeks at a time . . . sometimes months . . . doesn't come when I call . . . or beg . . . never has. Then she appears . . . unannounced . . . suddenly . . . magically . . . in a puff of smoke . . . with words and ideas spilling out of every pore . . . until the room overflows with prose . . . overwhelming but delighting me.

In the haze, she smiles . . . and sits on the piano seductively . . . as I gather the pieces of the puzzle . . . and attempt to arrange them . . . in an interesting and meaningful fashion. She laughs . . . and I can't tell whether it's at me . . . or for me . . . but as the concepts coalesce . . . and the syntax starts to sing . . . and the words quick-step into line . . . and the tenses BEGIN to agree . . . and the passive voices have all headed to the gym TO bulk up . . . I finally RELAX and BREATHE DEEPLY . . .

She waves goodbye . . . blows me a kiss . . . then slowly fades away. My dogs sleep through it all . . . but I can tell they know she was here . . . by the way they sniff at the piano and drool.

My best advice regarding creative inspiration is to, perhaps, start without her.

Read and reflect, and attempt to train your muse.

Sit, muse! Stay! Good girl! (Good luck)!