Quiet and Quit It - Two Things My Muse Hears A Lot

I can just hear you saying, "You what? Why would you tell your muse, of all people, to be quiet and quit it?" Give me a few moments and I'll explain. First, I should tell you a bit about me, things the people who know me well already know.

I'm not normal or quite sane and take pride in that fact. Why be like everyone else? Normal and sane is booooring! My fur babies, Shanni (short for Shannon Kyla) and Connor (Connor Devlin) are both rather, unusual themselves. Can't have normal kitties now can I? My household is always filled with magick, fairies and a couple of dragons. Sometimes I have to tell the fairies and dragons to take a short a vacation sometimes, but at least they're quiet.

So, now we come to why in the world I would tell my muse to be quiet and quit it on such a regular basis I feel the need to blog about it. You can see this coming right? Yes, you win the prize, you there in the black shirt. My muse is as odd as the rest of us. While she provides me with the ability to be a halfway decent writerly type of person, she also adores talking. She can turn into a non-stop chatty Cathy for days on end. It's not something I can tune out either, because she insists on being heard, whether I want to hear her or not. Yes, sometimes I do tie her up and gag her just to get some peace and quiet. Other times she takes an extended vacation which I'm heartily grateful for.

She, like the fairies, has a playful streak. She'll move things around, hide stuff from me and even...this could be the worst of it all...give me the insane urge to drink coffee. *gasp* Quit it are words I say day after day, except when she's on vacation, or sleeping. I love her best when she's sleeping, sort of like I loved my kids best at times when they were asleep. No noise, no distractions, no games, just peace and quiet.

Kangaroos and Your Muse - What They Have in Common

Have you ever stopped to wonder what your muse and kangaroos have in common? No? Well, let me enlighten you. I promise you'll never look at your muse the same way again.

Baby kangaroo, Donmike10, Wikimedia Commons

When kangaroos are babies they're so cute! You just want to pick them up and cuddle them! A new muse is like a baby kangaroo, called a joey. They're so cute and cuddly. You put up with the sudden bursts of energy and frolicking that may or may not create havoc with your schedule and/or writing. They're as unpredictable as a toddler and can get just as annoying.

Muse's then grow into their teen years, full of attitude and spunk. They think themselves indestructable, just like human, and I'm sure, kangaroo teens. They want to strike out on their own and may desert you without any notice, hopping off across the land, possibly going for a long walkabout leaving you hanging. If your muse deserts you, remember it's not the end of the world. Refer to a previous posting, Creativity: Secrets Your Muse Doesn't Want You to Know to get yourself back in the writing game.

Lazy Kangaroo, kathatp, sxc.hu

Finally, your muse grows into an adult. He or she settles down a bit, ready to provide you with stability and a steady outpouring of words. Depending on temperament, your muse may be docile, outspoken or still stuck in his/her teens unable or unwilling to grow the heck up already! You have to adjust to your muse's personality and learn to be flexible and roll with it.

Kangaroos pack a lot of punch in their kick if they get angry. A muse can also pack a punch, but luckily for us, we won't be killed since they don't physically hit us. The wallop we get is the urge to write like we've never written before. The words flowing non-stop from our fingers and brains so fast we can barely keep up. This in itself can be thoroughly exhausting and leave us feeling drained. I know when this has happened to me, it also leaves you feeling proud and satisfied at what I accomplished with the help of my muse. Learn to love the muse's kick.

Even adult muse's will take off on a walkabout every now and then and call it a vacation. Refer back to the above creativity posting if this happens. Just because they're adults doesn't mean they'll give you any advance notice of this time off. Some are thoughtful and will, while others just...poof! off into the ether. You'll survive these periods if you remain calm.

Kangaroos and muse's go through the stages of life together, dwelling on different planes, but yet have things in common. Always be prepared for any stage of development. You'll survive and thrive the turbulent toddler years into the joyous, or not so joyous, stage of adulthood.

Hump Day Happiness

An off the cuff title that popped into my head. I kind of like it. It has a...quirky catchiness to it. Maybe Wednesday will be official hump day on my blog. Anywho, taking a few minutes to type up this post and start hump day with some happiness. We're halfway through the week now and a good week it has been so far.

My muse decided it was bored and came back to fill my head to overflowing with ideas. Now, if only Motivation would show up, things would be rockin' in the writerly world more than they are. Guess I really can't have it all, so I'm making do with what I have.

Freelance Friday is fast approaching. Don't wander off too far, you won't want to miss this week's lineup of awesome freelance writers. Speaking of which, thanks to the interview with Suz Alicie on Monday, it sparked an idea for Motivated Monday.

What better motivation, besides cute kitties, could there be than to get to know our fellow freelance writers? Knowing the odd, unusual or random tidbit about our fellow writerly friends and their writerly world can inspire us to reach for the stars. We all have our own personality that I'd like to see shine and maybe inspire others.

With two jam packed writerly days, I have many Monday's and Friday's till the end of the year. Do you want to be featured on Friday or interviewed on Monday? Better yet, is there someone, or someone's, you feel should be featured? Leave names in the comments nominating folks for Motivated Monday and Freelance Friday. You can also email me at kbfreelancing@yahoo.com with the subject line of MM or FF with your nominations. I could pick them myself, but I'd love y'all to chime in and toss some names in the ring too. We're a huge community and maybe I'll pick up some new friends along the way.

It's time for my day to begin. Work is fairly screaming my name, yelling write me, no write me. Sounds like a bunch of kids wanting to be first on the team. Thank goodness for an ever revolving queue and numerous documents with title ideas. No article will ever be picked last for team Karen. See y'all soon!

Working the Muse's Way

My muse can be a funny one. She shows up when I least expect it, and depending on her mood, prod me along or goose me hard! Either way grabs my attention, most of the time. You're reading that right...most of the time. I surely can't be the only one whose ignored their muse due to physical issues, distractions or whatever curve ball life might throw our way. Question is, has your mused punished you for ignoring him or her?

I should know better than to ever ignore mine, no matter what else is going on. She doesn't like to be ignored and the resulting punishment is to leave me high and dry. I do believe we're coming to a better understanding. The length and severity of my high and dry moments have lessened over time as I learn more focus. Maybe one day soon she'll bring a friend along on this writerly road. That friend is called motivation! I have the ideas flowing, but lack the oomph to really bang those suckers out.

If anyone sees the missing friend, send him or her my way. Meanwhile, my muse is telling me this free writing, fun time is at an end and I must get back to work now. Farewell my writerly friends until next time.