Life Happens

Writing is not a full time occupation, at least not for most authors. Most of us don’t have that luxury. We have to juggle day jobs, our own families, sometimes elderly parents, outside commitments or events, all while trying to steal a few precious minutes to work on our books. (Usually it’s in the dead of night when everyone else is asleep.)

Can you tell I need to vent today?

Sometimes writing is just impossible. I came close to strangling my husband last weekend when he said to me, ‘Hey honey, we don’t have to be at my boss’s annual BBQ bash for an hour yet. Go write.’

IT’S NOT THAT EASY!

The muse can’t be summoned at your whim. An author needs time to unwind from real life, block out the world and looming life deadlines (like that mandatory BBQ bash) and get into the “zone” of writing the story. I need to submerse myself in my fictional world, enter that magical door and look around. That’s the ‘Oh yeah, I remember this!’ moment when we can finally start to write.

That moment doesn’t come easily.

Just now, my husband ran out the door saying, ‘I’m going to see my dad. Be back in an hour. Then we really have to start working on our income taxes.’

Crap! Instead of screaming, I sat down to write. But then I realized I had this blog to finish (another deadline) before I could concentrate on my latest futuristic romance, Programmed For Power, book three in my Tau Cetus Chronicles.  So I guess Theus, the powerful premier of Tau Cetus, will just have to wait.

And I don’t like to make him wait.

Sometimes I fantasize about divorce. Having all my time be my own. Having time to write, to do what I want to do, not what everyone else needs me to do.

Then I realize that fiction might be my passion, but family is my priority.

And that’s as it should be.

Still, sometimes I’m reminded of that old saying, “Sometimes I just sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.”

Oh, for the luxury of just being able to sit and do nothing!!!

Nah, I’d probably be bored out of my mind.

Sigh. Life happens. But I guess that’s what makes it so interesting.

Until next month,

Jenna

www.jennaives.com

My Closet Muse

A long time ago, someone brought up the discussion of muses on one of the lists. Silly, I thought. I deal in reality. Right…with my vampire, werewolf, fae, and--you name it-- stories….reality. So why does a writer who loves fantasy and the paranormal not have a muse? Because I’m the one who works hard to think this stuff up. No way am I going to give credit to some fantastical entity. No way.

And then one day one of my critique partners asked our group about everyone’s muse. She’d been to an RWA workshop, and felt like I did. She didn’t have a muse, didn’t want to think about it. Silly. But she really got into it, described her muse, and had a lot of fun doing it.

So for the first time, I began to think of my muse. She’s my height, same coloration, beautiful--just like me--only she’s thinner, younger, wears fairy-like clothes and hides in the closet.

And that’s why I don’t have a muse. What good is a closet muse? About that time I was having one of those, I refuse to call it writer’s block, but you know, something like that…when the words just won’t jump out of my fingers onto the keys and appear on the paper. I’m usually really annoyed with myself when I have this…this frustratingly annoying non-creative, non-productive period. Until I latched onto that muse and realized the problem. It was all her fault! She refused to come out of the closet.

I also had to blame my critique partner, because if she hadn’t introduced me to my muse, I wouldn’t have ever blamed anyone but myself for not getting back to my writing.

The good news is I’m busily at work again, despite the fact I have a closet muse. So remember, whether you have a muse or not, writing is an important part of a writer’s life and nothing should stop that natural drive, even if it has to be given a nudge every once in a while.

Sometimes I go months without thinking about my muse. It just happens. The idea comes to me, the words get written, the story is completed. I’m a writer. Other times, I have to drag the words out of the gray matter, hash and rehash the words on paper, and finally, with a great deal of effort, finish the story. I’m still a writer. Does my muse help?

You’d have to ask her. She won’t come out of the closet to speak to me.

What about you? Do you have a troublesome muse? What is she or he like?