OK, this really pisses me off. Before my big move, I was fully in writer-mode, even asking in my LJ for writing advice and stuff. I was deep into the editing of my novel and slapping back an ep analysis of Angel once a week and otherwise typing prose to my heart’s content.
Then came the packing, and the move, and the unpacking, and the interior decorating. I managed to finish up the couple Angel analysis I was late on, but thank god they didn’t have more than eight episodes this Fall (did I just say that?), ’cause I was kind of dragging ass getting those done as it was.
And now I am dragging ass getting back into my novel. It all seems distant to me. “Oh, that.”
I am like a work-a-holic, I-have-no-life about my novel most of the time!!
Grrr, I hate this. Would someone tell me where my muse ran off to?
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 
Wish I could; commiserating though. I thought I was just missing all your posts due to my “maybe I can snag 15 min on line before the sun rises” reading habits lately.
Oh, I’ve been around
Just writing in other people’s LJs or in response to other people’s responses to my age-old LJ entries.
And there’s board trouble again distracting me.
And I spent a lot of time on buses these days.
Not much to say about my life lately, except yellow and gray don’t go well together.
So great to see your icon popping up in my LJ, though! I miss your emails lately!
I know where your muse went.
It’s doing the shopping that you so loathe. Hee-hee.
But my muse hates shopping too!
She like, chains me to a desk on a regular basis, sticks a random TV show re-run tape in the VCR, and says, “You vill vork on your novel/website/archives right now, frauline!” (’cause my muse is a German dominatrix who hasn’t replaced her scary leather outfit in fifteen years).
But then, yeah, now that I think about it, I’ve been dragging myself out to Home Depot, Target, and Carpeteria a lot lately.
snap…. twang!
*Oy* with the cat-o-nine-tails whip again!
That really hurts!
Sounds to me as though she’s taken herself off to a comfortable hotel until things are properly settled.
But they’re settled now!
That’s kind of the point. I got past the unpacking bits, the major shopping. Things are in place, my free time is once again free.
I think she needs to lay off the room service hors d’oeuvres (which are fattening anyhow) and the free cable and come back home!
Maybe if you laid out tempting treats like, say, cheesecake and nice chocolates, your muse will forgive you all the upheaval and come home. Tell your muse, help me with this chapter of my novel and I’ll feed you yummy delicacies! Or if your muse isn’t the sweet tooth type, maybe you can feed her brain candy. Any books you can look to for inspiration?
*hugs* Good luck with the writing. I’m trying to work on my own stuff, and it’s pretty slow going too. So I know how you feel.
Had too much candy candy already
Need some brain food inspiration. Need to track down my love for the characters in my novel and for the themes:
Like say, “All cute, charming but traumatized-by-parental-figures, emotionally immature and volitile characters can be redeemed.”
She’s there…
Just gotta turn her on. Maybe we should do a meme on “My Muse”–mine is far from a dominatrix (that was my dissetation director, and she was an anti-muse, although I did get it done). Muses, in my experience, are sort of like cats. If you leave the door open, they come in and sit in your lap, although they do not come when called. For me, that means sitting there with nothing on the screen but the blank page or the end of the last chapter or scene or whatever, but my muse may be a whore of a different color. They’re like that.
In that case…
I suggest rewatching “Ariel” and “Objects in Space”. Best Simon-River episodes, and we see River finally starting to heal and being accepted into the family.
Um, I’m trying to think of a non-ME example, but I’m coming up blank right now. Let me think on it.
Truthfully…
My muse is not a German dominatrix. I just liked that imagery when I was chatting with Deeva. My muse is, and has always been, the main characters of my stories. My main character, Valerie was one of those types who started out just a character in the background and then started to demand more and more attention, until I was fairly obsessed with who she was and what she would do next.
I’m in such a dry, technical editing portion of my story that it’s hard to get back into her head, her body, her emotional state. Maybe I should just sit back and read some chapters and remember.
I have yet to see Firefly!
So can’t get insipiration from that until it comes up on my netflix movie queue. However, some Faith and Connor might do the trick. There’s a reason characters like that are my favs. They’re also the type I write about.
I think you and your muse need a rest. Don’t stress and give yourself a week or two off.
Thanks
I think you and your muse need a rest. Don’t stress and give yourself a week or two off.
I know, I get in a twisty-thing. I think, “but she and I have had an entire MONTH off so far”. Yeah, sure a month spent packing and moving and unpacking and decorating and in other words generally working my butt off.
But I get ancy, ’cause I’m close to getting done and I think, “I could get this done this year if I get back on it!” and I push myself.
But what if I don’t take any noveling things on vacation with me? There’s a “novel” plan!