Are You Listening to The Muse?

We are writers so we must write daily. Not practicing the craft is an insult to the craft, plus how are we going to improve our draft if we do not work on it?

It’s a gift, it’s a passion, and a chore all rolled into one, but for most, between an actual ‘job’ or the household ‘chores’ or the loving ‘kids’ and the ‘must-do’ social niceties, there is scant time for actual writing.

Mostly I think, plan, and dream of my written words dazzling the world and all the naysayers out there.

Reality is far from ideal and on most days I find myself agreeing to the distractions, hoping that it’s a phase that is meant to temper my writing, hone my skills, and add that elusive emotional tug to my writing.

Instead, my mind is far from calm with the constant tug-of-war of trying and failing to justify my lack of writing.

How can my Muse be happy if I have no offerings for her?

How can the Muse hone me if there is nothing to fine-tune?

How will the writing improve if there is no writing?

Short of keeping the laptop on standby and phone open on a note, there is little else I can offer to my Muse, myself, and my writing as well as the many drafts in various states of incomplete mess.

I am always told to listen to my Muse, to write when inspiration strikes, and never trifle with ideas and plot twists.

Am I always paying attention?

Do I manage to get all the ideas down?

Sadly life finds endless ways of ensuring that I turn a deaf ear to the hints and nudges. To both the subtle and the obvious ones as well.

Reading books and articles related to writing and editing is my latest remedy for pacifying the Muse.

Telling myself and my Muse that I’m preparing myself for the writing marathon that lies ahead.

After a particularly long dry spell of not writing anything substantial; I realized that I’d procrastinated enough.

Writing is the only way forward, the only thing left to do.

A few days ago I discussed the restlessness I felt due to not writing with a close friend.

The impotence I felt when I saw my dozen drafts lolling away; all incomplete yet outlined.

My friend highlighted the fact that I’ve been disregarding the signals coming my way.

Time—the most precious commodity is what I’m wasting and not just my writing and creativity.

Time is what we can’t get back, yet it’s the one that’s most wasted.

Scores of authors and writers swear by keeping their writing time scared, clutter-free, and phone, notifications free and I agree.

Though a bit late in life but better late than never, right?

The hardest task is conditioning myself that it’s me who has to carve out the reading space, and writing time.

Reels and shorts… I’m looking at you even though I should look at myself.

If I don’t give importance to my writing time and don’t treat it as sacrosanct then who is to blame?

All the aspects of writing that hinder us are born from within and through our actions can we solve them.

I absolutely don’t need to discuss or write down about the things that stop me from writing and give them any importance, I just want to get rid of them.

Bit by bit, word by word, minute by minute. The very popular book by Anne Lamont was my constant companion last year as I waded through periods of insecurity riddled with self-doubt.

Just as the author of the book shares anecdotes, thoughts, and examples about life and writing being intertwined, I understand why I can’t keep either aside to accomplish the other.

Life or Writing.

Work or Writing.

Family or Writing.

Doubt or Writing.

We must plow through it all.

Writing is my passion and life is nothing without passion.

Anne shares in the book, Bird By Bird her own life, her roadblocks, and how she took refuge in writing and books.

How self-doubt is normal and publishing isn’t that great a prize but writing is the real jewel.

We are stuck since we chase that elusive, perfect word, sentence, paragraph, and page culminating into a perfect book.

Perfection doesn’t exist…I’m old enough to know it and this is exactly what Anne Lamont shares in Bird By Bird.

It’s a must-read and rightly so.

Keep it close, refer to its inspirational, invigorating advice again and again as you let go of everything that stops your writing.

Embrace the beauty of the written word, word by word.

“Get it all down. Let it pour out of you and onto the page. Write an incredibly shitty, self-indulgent, whiny, mewling first draft. Then take out as many of the excesses as you can.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

I’ll share more books on writing craft since I love reading about what makes others write, their peeves, and passions with the wisdom of a lifetime of writing condensed into a book.

Here’s to writing more, pleasing myself and my Muse and I’ve written this down in this post so I don’t forget.

Others can read it as well and be inspired, this is the year that the book simmering within us is published.

Keep writing.