The Magical Muse by Jennifer Nielsen

To say Jennifer A. Nielsen is amazing is a HUGE understatement. There are so many positive adjectives I can use to describe her! It would take up this whole post. She's an influencer, teacher, writer, friend, listener, centered, true-to-self, best friend anyone would beg to have. She's kind, sweet, funny, smart, insightful, witty...did I say amazing yet?
(I know, I know, fan girl much?)(I truly want to be Jen when I grow up).
When you're with her and talking to her, she is laser-focused on you and you alone. She proved to be the one with sound advice for a friend in need over the weekend.

We learned a lot about being creative!

First, ask yourself:
Where am I creative?

WATER is the #1 element to creativity.
WHY Water?
It supports the body, so the body relaxes and the brain relaxes and creates a cocoon.
The relaxed brain creates DOPAMINE, which creates peace in us.
(I was totally skeptical about this. I mean, when will I get to a waterfall or sit in a hot tub?? The next morning I was thinking about a hole in my plot while I was showering and BAM! The thought came and I solved the problem!).

BLANK page
Staring at a blank page works. Most ideas being with a single spark. Only you can grab it.

COLLECT stupid facts
Did you know there is a DOG MAYOR? And he's won THREE times?

LISTEN to music and pick up on lyrics

ASK what if? What if that happened? Or he said that? Or she did this?

MAKE up back stories to other stories or to strangers you meet. Why does that guy keep looking at pictures of the same girl, over and over again? For the two hour flight?

LOOK for details. Why is he carrying yellow roses?

COME up with more than one plot point...come up with at least 5.
SET limitations on your characters (limitations are the mother of creativity).
PLAN your incubation period. ⇨ WRITE down your questions you have about your plot, character, etc and go about your day. You've given your subconscious brain a task and it will answer your questions.

TRUST your imagination! You're in the right place!

Busy summer where my muse ran away

Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?

What do you do?

Play. 

Sleep in.

Read.

Go to the pool.

Be lazy.

Read.

Set goals to write.

Clean the house.

Go camping.

Get the carpets cleaned.

Read some more.

Play pickleball.

Take walks and pictures of sunsets.

And get no writing done. Sheesh. I can not get my proverbial writing feet under me. I really don't want to open a word document and get to work. So what have I been doing? 

I sent a few short stories to my critique group. 

I'm working on outlines for two stories.

I've sent out FORTY query letters. I had a lot of request to look at my story. 

I had a lot of rejections too. 

I didn't think the rejections would affect me like they have. I don't want to write anymore. I don't want to edit. 

My muse has run away. 

She will come back. She has before. She just needs to lick her wounds and beef up her sensitivity then she will come back brimming with excitement and ready to get to work.

During this waiting period I am getting a TON of reading done. I've read 94 books so far this year! I've read some great books that I'll start posting. 

How is your summer? What are you doing?

Hello?? Where's my muse?

My muse has been absent of late. I think she took a vacation with no notice. For the last two weeks or so the absence of Le Muse has left me without my daily creative outlet. I haven't been able to do much writing or editing. I tried reading articles about writers block and how to get motivated to no avail. I started getting snarky with my family, taking naps and watching "Revenge."
Pinterest stepped in to save my sanity. I found recipes to bake (my family loved me!), crafts to make, and picture ideas to retake. Plus I cleaned and organized a few closets (Mom! What did you do with my broken spy glasses I never play with but now I want to because you threw them out??). 
For a week I've had the song "Hello" by Martin Solveig & Dragonette in my head. Seriously. I could not for the life of me get it outta there. I tried listening to different songs on the radio. Turned Jango up. Even had the kids sing songs to me. Nothing helped.
Then BAM! I got a great idea for the book I'm writing! I sat back down in my comfy chair and wrote it. And. kept. writing.
Le Muse was back and saying hello.
"I could stick around and get along with you, hello!"

I'm back in the groove, my friends, and it feels sooo good!

What about you? How are you doing today?

Here's a song to get your brain cells moving:


I picture Le Muse as the girl singing this song.
What does your muse look like??

Whatever you do, Do Not play the video below. This song was stuck in my head for days. I'll post it just in case you're crazy: