My muse has a bit of an attitude. Sometimes she floods me with information, where I can’t type fast enough to get it down. (She especially likes to do that when I don’t have access to a computer, pen, or paper…) Other times, she runs around like a bratty child, singing, “I know something you don’t know; I know something you don’t know.”

Today’s writing (well, yesterday’s writing because I fell asleep on the couch around 11:00) was the latter.

Me: Okay, I’ve got to figure out main villainess’s motivation. Well, I know it’s power, but how is it expressed? What’s the main witch’s goal.

Muse: I’m tired of your demands. You and your “writing every day now” thing is really putting a cramp in my style. You want to know her motivation, you have to do something for me for a change.

Me: I just gave you four shots of espresso in four hours. :::batting eyes:::

Muse: (ignoring me) I want you to dance for me.

Me: Seriously? No. I don’t think so. I’m no good at dancing. Just tell me her motivation so I can get on with it…

Muse: DANCE!

Me: Oh for crying out loud. Here’s the Happy Dance for you… (Performs the elusive Happy Dance that only a few people have seen.)

Muse: You’re right. That was a tad horrific. So I’m only going to give you a little glimpse. (Opens the Magic Book of Ideas I Desperately Need, and slams it shut before I can read much.)

Me: Okay, posing as Russian royalty. Not bad, but what…?

Muse: If you want to see anything else today, I’m breaking out my fiddle and making you dance an Irish jig for an hour. That or you can leave me alone. I didn’t agree to your new schedule.

Me: Fine; have it your way. (Goes into the office to research Russian royalty…)

Muse: (laughing) My work is complete. She’ll never get past all those links in Wikipedia….

Me: (yelling from the office) Hey, did you know the Russian secret service back in Lenin’s time was called the Cheka…?

Okay, I didn’t really do any dancing. (I do have a happy dance, however.) But that’s what writing today felt like. I’m right on the cusp of getting all the ideas and the story lines to start flowing, but right now it’s like… Well, see above…

On the writing side of things, I had today off so I did a few errands in the morning. One of my errands was getting the oil changed in my car, which is right next to our town’s new Greenway, so I took my dog, Chewie, for a little walk through the woods. (It’s, um, really a swamp, and we were on a boardwalk the whole time.) Nature usually clears my head, but this time it didn’t. I finished around 12:00, and the struggled a bit over plot issues. I’m getting there. Tomorrow’s goal is to write to the inciting incident of this novella. I think I can do it. 🙂

Have you ever had trouble getting the ideas to flow? What did you do about it?

Toodles!