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- Go to Forget the Muse. Put Your Rear End in a Seat and Do It
Thanks, Dances
That means so much. I'm thinking of compiling a lot of this and turning it over to a friend of mine in publishing. I write so much of this off the top of my head, but when I think of it, when I was starting (and even now), the information I've wanted is seriously of the "I did this and it worked" kind. You can get theory anywhere. I love personal stories in things.
To that end...:) If you have anything you want to throw in here of things you've tried and have worked/haven't worked or are having problems with, please write away. I'd like this to end up interactive, an on-line writing support section. I hae a lot to learn myself.
Kim
posted by
terpgirl30
on June 29, 2005 at 5:26 AM
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GREAT POST!
I loved this. Also adding you to my faves, so glad i found it :)
posted by
DancesWithWords
on June 28, 2005 at 8:29 PM
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Saul
A zone is a really good way to put it. I hadn't thought of it that way, but that's exactly it! I really like that. As for instrumental stuff, I can't do it. I was raised in a house where my dad had the TV on with a game, a transistor radio in his ear for something else, and was reading a newspaper. I'm the reverse of ADD. I'm working at a job now producing/formatting/editing environmental reports and housing stuff. I have headphones on as I work and I'm pretty much singing as I type. I can't do one thing at a time. THAT would be distractive to me. I know that's weird, and I've tried to ratchet the Type A down...but it never works.
posted by
terpgirl30
on June 26, 2005 at 7:54 PM
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Funny, terpgirl, I find my comfort zone somewhat similar to yours.
With several mandelas with wolves painted on them, several Dallas Cowboys mugs and cups atop my desk, some Craig Chaquico or Peter White or Jesse Cook or Gato Barbieri (instrumental stuff is the way to go; singing is a bit distracting, except for maybe Douglas Spotted Eagle) playing in the background, a comfortable seat, Rudyard Kipling's "The Unforgiving Minute" and Frost's unforgettable double line "And miles to go before I sleep/ And miles to go before I sleep" pasted to the wall, late at night, I write my blogs, poetry, work on some novels, read for ideas and inspiration, ...
You just have to find a writing zone...
posted by
saul_relative
on June 26, 2005 at 5:56 PM
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Muser
Well, your reason makes sense. You speak of it because you are doing something with it that is pretty unexplainable to you. I always conjure up an image of Sharon Stone in that movie where she was The Muse.
posted by
terpgirl30
on June 21, 2005 at 4:27 PM
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Hi Terpgirl....At age fifty-two, I started writing. I did not decide one
day to write. I did not aspire to be a writer; it's just that one day I suddenly felt compelled to write words, and sentences, and paragraphs that formed stories that just popped into my head, and just kept flowing from...somewhere. I'm surprised every time I write something; when I'm finished, I read with wonder at what I've written! When someone asks me why I started writing, it's just easier to say that the muse has come to "play" with me for awhile, laugh, and leave it at that. I don't think that my muse response sounds any "crazier" than the actual reason I started writing...its just more colorful.
posted by
muser
on June 18, 2005 at 10:06 AM
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Thanks...I think I needed that post...probablly needed it a whole lot sooner...lol
posted by
spatrick
on June 13, 2005 at 3:19 PM
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Great Post, Terpgirl. Thanks for the clarification on the 'Muse'. I think
the neigborhood cat ate ours. Inspiration?...Now that, I can deal with. I share a basement dwelling with two dogs in Baltimore, for crying out loud. LOL
posted by
I-R-William
on June 13, 2005 at 12:09 PM
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terpgirl
Great post and the info applies to any kind of work that requires self-starting. Before I retired, I had my office set up with a fountain, candles, music, quotes everywhere...all the things I needed to keep my right brain occupied so my left brain could go to work! Now that I am retired and writing, I am having to recreate the same scenerio, but a little more in reverse since my whole environment is more right brain friendly and I have to get the left brain kick-started...did that make sense? Point is, finding your levers, buttons and potions and using them.
posted by
Krisles
on June 12, 2005 at 10:40 PM
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terpgirl, I find late-night TV inspirational, with the sound down!
No my nuber was 317 in the military lottery in 1968.
posted by
kingmi
on June 12, 2005 at 12:15 PM
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Mama!
Good for you! A mentor is such an excellent resource. I didn't realize that until I joined an online writing group and started seeing the kinds of questions that cropped up. I was at a trade magazine before I graduated from college. The editor and I went freelance at the same time, and we'd meet once a month to swap stories and problems and highs. It always worked out that when I was selling she wasn't and vice versa. I joined Washington Independent Writers and hooked up with some writers locally who turned out to be a Godsend. Our little group is now sort of breaking up since some are retiring and moving away. We've been together more than a decade. I have no idea where I'll go for that kind of support now.
posted by
terpgirl30
on June 12, 2005 at 12:13 PM
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Excellent, excellent, excellent piece!! I have only recently come to really believe that "luck" is merely Oppportunity meeting Preparation. I have written for years off and on, even sold some pieces to my local newspaper as features articles.
So wish me luck....I have a meeting on Wed. with an editor/publisher who likes my work (what I have shared) and is willing to show me the steps to get more of my work sold. Be a mentor to me, so to speak. I have been very busy the past few days pulling all my work into one place, formatting it, and saving it to disk. Ah, Virginia--the preparation!
~Mama.Dragonfly487
posted by
Mama.Dragonfly
on June 12, 2005 at 12:05 PM
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King
I love that...Are you in the military? It just reminds me of stories I've heard from others in one branch or another. The office thing is very weird for me in terms of time. My body clock is backwards. I was going to bed 3-5 a.m. Now I'm getting up at 6 a.m. I sooo feel like I'm missing something. I write best from 10 pm-2 am when it's quite and only late night TV is there to intrude.
posted by
terpgirl30
on June 12, 2005 at 11:47 AM
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King, btw
There's a great book that I've loaned out and lost so many times it's almost funny to me. Gotta buy it again. Just Do It: Let's Get Off Our Buts. It has lots of quotes from really creative people about how you have to be a bit uncomfortable to do something great. If you do the familiar, you will be comfortable. It is the unknown, untested that brings originality and possibly greatness. Walking on the moon? Elvis? The first-person mystery? All people who stepped out of a comfort level to do these things. All pushing the envelope. I've told this story so many times---Colonel Sanders tried to get funding for his chicken idea 83 times, and was told that the thought of someone putting chicken through a window was just wrong. He didn't care. Do you think he ended up laughing? Do you think he had to inspire himself after many rejections.
The interesting thing about that book is that it was a fluke that started out as self published, the writers not expecting much out of it. And then it was picked up by a major publisher when it sold way beyond what the writers had expected. The did another called Life 101.
So, the inspiration can catch you off guard, as well. But you better be prepared to run with it when it does or you miss the opportunity to do what you may have always wanted to do.
posted by
terpgirl30
on June 12, 2005 at 11:44 AM
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terp, I like the combinaiton, it's very early 70's. And I admire anyone
can stay home and stay motivated. I'm gone all the time 9 months or 10 of the year, when I retire I want a condo in Fla, where I can stay home and write all night, walk the beaches all morning, and drink coffee and tell lies at the Cuban cafes all afternoon!
posted by
kingmi
on June 12, 2005 at 11:42 AM
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King
I guess that's the point I was making. It worked for me. That combination won't work for someone else. The force to work comes from within, not from some unknown, outside source. You see flames shooting out of a building and you run. You don't wait for a firefighter to tap you on the shoulder, right? It's something inside that gives your brain that signal to act.
I was writing a dieting article for whatever reason. I didn't need to be on a diet. I've never thought about food the way people dieting do. When I went to this diet doctor for the article, I thought about food all the time...and no wonder...the guy was pretty much starving me. I started with a pretty intense workout program. The problem is, I love chocolate. Okay, who doesn't. I don't trust people who don't like chocolate. It's weird. I had to work out a little mind game to make me get what I needed accomplished. It's all about mind games. I could have my piece of chocolate, but I had to follow it with 50 sit ups. Talk about aversion therapy!
Up until the last few years, I spent so much time in my office, I equipped it better than the main rooms in my house. I did the cinderblock shelving with the inherited desk in the basement of my home. I did the mind games which made me do more which in turn let me do more for myself. It's work---but it's not. Now in the office I'm going to, I've pasted up my Fitzgerald and Roosevelt quotes, propped up my cactus plant, and settled in the little bobbing head dog. They rigged up the CD for me so I can use my ear phones in my little cubicle. My coffee cup is on the side. It makes me feel at home with myself, and I'm much more productive.
posted by
terpgirl30
on June 12, 2005 at 11:38 AM
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terpgirl, this is fabulous!! I loved it. And does it work?
I lovd the ball cap, the Dylan wine, the Beatles 45, and the sayings taped to the walls.Fantastic! A whole new meaning to the word "...do-it!"
posted by
kingmi
on June 12, 2005 at 11:22 AM
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