The Care and Feeding of the Muse

The best way to cure writer’s block is to prevent it from ever happening. Inspiration is the well from which writers and artists drink. And the muse is the personification of our inspiration. Keeping her well full and clear is something that will benefit all artists, and here are some thoughts on how we can do that.

Feed Your Muse with Down Time

I know this is the opposite of the normal writerly advice, to “write every day.” But it’s vital to not spend all our time chained to a computer, staring at a screen. We have to be out in the world. Blow off the computer, the television, the sofa, the office and get outside.

I am a hermit. I hate going out at all, but even I force myself to do so from time to time. Interacting with others is the only way to plant the seeds of realistic characters in my mind. Experiencing events and seeing sights is the only way to create believable scenes in our stories. It’s all grist for the mill.