Thursday, April 28, 2005

Wrestling with the Muse

Yesterday when I was walking the dogs with my eldest, I had an epiphany about an abandoned mss. I realized why it was not working and how it could be fixed.
This is a mss previously set at the beginning of the 18th century. There are a number of reasons which I won't go into why it was not going to work and why it was going to be a difficult sale. It is going to work far better having the time period moved forward 100 years.
Now I have to wonder what my muse is doing here. Is she trying to get me to stop working on my saga by throwing enticing snippets of info my way? If so, it is not going to work. I am determined to get the saga done and completed before I do anything else writing wise. It is a matter of being firm and determined. Sometimes lately I feel I am getting to chapter 3 and stopping. At least I know with the saga, the agent said to send it in after I had completed it. That should be incentive enough. The story is interesting.The muse appeared to be cooperating and then she starts whispering about other stories.
So it is a matter of completing pages and taking notes on unrelated stories. I am wise to her tricks and blandishments. She hates to work. She'd rather play at being a muse. She will sometimes wear a very innocent face when confronted as if to say -- who me? what on earth are you talking about? At other times she is wonderfully cooperative and the words flow like water over a dam.

Today I received the go ahead for the RNA Workshop on 8 October at the Assembly Rooms in Newcastle Upon Tyne. The speakers are: Dr Hilary Johnson who runs an author advisory service, Kate Walker who is an award winning author of how to write books as well as being an international best selling author, Eileen Ramsay and Wendy Robertson.The theme of the workshop is Taking Your Writing to the Next Level within Commercial Women's Fiction -- a subject dear to my heart. After all one of the perks of organizing such events is that you get to ask the speakers you want to hear!

2 ducklings became stuck down in the ravine this morning and had to scooped out.The white winged tipped one always seems to be in the forefront of danger. This one is the duckling most likely to...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In an on-line writing group to which I belong, we call the muse 'the girls in the basement' -i.e. those who send up ideas. We have learned that the girls are always right and you ignore them at your peril! If you don't do what they want, they may throw a spanner in the works of your saga.

Pam

Michelle Styles said...

Hi Pam,

The girls in the basement sounds like a very apt description.
Life can be hell when they decide to sulk or bang on the pipes!