Yesterday a fellow author said her muse had deserted her, and she asked for suggestions as to what she could post for her blog. I sent her this list of possible topics:
- Something fun — a favorite photo, a special recipe, a secret (and impossible) dream.
- Something that makes you smile, that comforts you, that makes you want to dance.
- How writing changed your life or how it made no difference at all.
- Your muse. Who or what is it normally? Maybe post a photo of your muse. Or write a letter to your muse begging him/her to come back.
- The one letter you wish you’d never written, the one letter you didn’t write but wish you had.
- Something you should have thrown away a long time ago, but can’t part with.
- Your wildest non-erotic fantasy.
She didn’t use any of my suggestions, but ironically, my own muse has deserted my today. Well, not really — I don’t have a muse, but I am sitting here with such a blank mind that a ready list of blog topics is nice to have.
So, something fun . . .
One day when I was out walking in the desert, I saw this television sitting right there on the path as if posed for a photograph, so I took the picture, then I pasted the photo itself onto the television screen because the idea amused me. Hope it amuses you, too.
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Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Connect with Pat on Google+. Like Pat on Facebook.
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May 22, 2014 at 5:26 pm
I think your pants are afire!
May 22, 2014 at 8:01 pm
I think the photo should be title ‘True Reality Television.’ This on account of what’s on television being absolutely real.
Right now I have local theatre on my mind. It really is a brain tease working out what can be done with a blank space on a stage for an audience. It is more challenging than short story writing or putting together a novel.
Right now I am up for the challenge. I suppose for me getting out of the doldrums and finding my muse can be accepting a challenge and running with it. Right now my cup is half full rather than half empty.
May 23, 2014 at 4:54 pm
Sounds interesting, writing a story using the blank space on a stage. In a way, the story I will be writing one of these days will be similar, because it will take place in a dance studio.
I’m glad your cup is half full. Sounds like the challenge suits you.
May 23, 2014 at 9:06 pm
Challenges tend to keep you among the living, especially if they are ones you have decided on. I read The Empty Space by Peter Brook some time ago. It deals with that empty space you can call a stage.
May 22, 2014 at 9:41 pm
Yep, I’m amused! Thanks, Pat. You made me start my day with a smile. 🙂
May 23, 2014 at 6:14 am
Wow, and the thing was actually plugged in and working!
May 25, 2014 at 5:34 am
Thank you for the list, Pat. My muse abandoned me a couple of years ago regarding blogging. Maybe now I can get back to it.
May 25, 2014 at 4:21 pm
Strangely, it’s easier for me to blog every day than sporadically. It’s less of a responsibility since I don’t have to come up with fantastic topics. Just whatever comes to mind.