Muse on Vacation

Where do you derive the inspiration to write?

Before I get to publish a blog post, this is normally what happens to me…

even Spongebob blogs...

… I sit in front of the computer, go to WordPress (Supergoddess Me), click “New Post.” 

… then I stare at the screen for a good five minutes. 

… I get impatient when I get to minute 3 so I open another tab and check out Facebook.

… about two minutes into Facebook, I find out that there’s nothing new happening in FB world so I go back to WordPress.

… Inhale, exhale.  I will get that inspiration somehow.

… Maybe coffee will help… so I stand up to make myself a good cup of coffee.

… Hmmm… coffee is good with cookies.  Maybe I should get some, too.  Cookies or chips. Yum.

hoping to be inspired...

… Darn, I can’t drink coffee and eat chips while working on the computer.  Seriously, He-Man will have a fit.

… I wonder what’s on tv?… Coffee, chips, TV.  Perfect.

… I never liked the Bachelor (nor the Bachelorette)… I have watched these Glee episodes two times already… There’s no nice movie… I don’t feel Oprah-ish nor Bauerish…  Oh great, there’s TMZ.

… I am getting tired of hearing about Kim K and the rest of the brood.  Don’t they have anything more interesting?  Isn’t Brad splitting up with Angelina yet?!

… Oh geesh, I need to fix the magazines in my bedroom. They are beginning to pile up and are starting to collect dust.  Enough of TMZ.

… I read the magazines and wonder when I will get another article published.

… I rack my brains for a topic to write about.

… and THEN I remember that the computer is on… and my screen is still on “Add New Post” (that is, after I shoo away the bubbles of my screensaver)

… and then I start typing… (until someone buzzes me on ym or Facebook beckons)

That, ladies and gentlemen, happens on normal days.

I need my Muse

And yet there are days when I get so inspired and the words just start forming in my head.  It starts with a topic, then words, sentences, paragraphs… it will just flow smoothly until I sort of finish the whole essay. In my head.

Sometimes it happens at night, right before I sleep (the Rejection blog post is an example).  I was on my bed, body so tired after an eventful day… and then I thought of the topic… and then sentences started to form… and since I couldn’t turn on the computer anymore to type away my thoughts, I just wished and prayed that I would still remember them in the morning.   Thankfully, I did.

Another weird time is when I am in the shower (blog post entitled Things Money Cannot Buy).  Again I prayed I won’t forget the words the moment I come out of the bathroom…  I think my muse likes spontaneity. 

Sometimes we just try so hard… and the more we do, the more difficult writing becomes. 

Like today.   I really don’t have anything to blog about.  Therefore I won’t try so hard. 

So, see you all when my muse gets back!

days like today...

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Muse : in Greek Mythology any of the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, each of whom presided over a different art or science;   A guiding spirit, source of inspiration. (Free Online dictionary)

photos via weheartit.com and google images

The Reluctant Blogger

Several entries ago, I wrote about feeling bad about not having (yet) a good number of daily followers for my blog site.  I aired out my frustration, and on hindsight, I think I was being too self-absorbed (like, the world’s not going to end if no one gets to read my blogs, right?!).

And so I began to question my reasons for blogging.  I asked myself if my intention is really for people to read my work, learn from me, or if I just blog because I want to blog.  But as my best friend/person pointed out, what good is a written work if there’s no one to read it?

Best friend /person gave some really good suggestions.  She’s right.  If I want people to get to read my blogs, I should promote it. I’m the best person to market my blogs — meaning, I can’t hide inside a shell and wait for some random reader to see (and like) what I wrote, and pray that random reader thinks of including my site in his or her blogroll.   That’s just not the way it works. 

The thing is I love to write, but most often than not, I am embarrassed to share my work.  It’s quite difficult for me just say, “Hey, I wrote something. Read it!!”  Even more difficult if I’m “selling” my work to people I know.  Somehow, I care too much about what they will think of my writing — that I’d rather not know.  Sometimes, it IS easier to accept the reactions — or criticisms — from strangers.  And yes, there are things — thoughts and issues — that I write about that I don’t really want to advertise to my family and friends (like, when I vent about the people I dislike… or I talk about the guys I think are hot… you get my drift!).  Somehow there are things that you just don’t want to explain anymore — and that’s what families and friends do best, question your issues.

And so, this reluctant blogger created another blog site with the intention of making that one public (meaning, that one I WILL advertise to friends and relatives).  Maybe even shamelessly advertise. There I will write the formal stuff.  I will be in my professional writer mode (or at least, try…). 

This one is for my stranger-friends (an oxymoron)… the ones who don’t personally know me, yet who I get to share what’s in my head with.  No strings attached.  I get to write AND not get interrogated. Totally win-win situation.

How I will be able to sustain having two blog sites… well, there lies the challenge.  Considering I run out of issues when I still had just one… now it’s double the writing work…

I need my Muse... wait, I am my Muse!

And as my close friend pointed out, now I will end up monitoring blog stats of two sites.  I think what he said was, “Two blogs to obsess about.”

He knows me too well.

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photo via weheartit.com