Christy English

The Daily Grind and the Muse

Wednesday, January 30th, 2013 | Reflections, The Writing Life

Sometimes it is hard to find the spark of the Muse. When day to day life gets in the way of art, as it so often does, we search in vain for that spark of divine fire, for the voices of our characters, to lead us back into our work, back into the joy of making a novel come to life on the page.

One of the toughest things artists face in this culture is finding a moment of quiet to be able to listen to ourselves, much less our characters. It takes a moment separate from everything else, and when we are working 24/7 on the day to day grind of our lives: bills, family, day job, car repairs, etc, there are times when it is almost impossible.

When faced with the impossible, though, we still have to try. If we can find an hour, even if it is only on Saturday, we can begin there. Sometimes we have to begin small to see a glimmer of hope. Then that glimmer will lead us to a larger breathing space, and give us the strength to make it through to the next moment when we can be alone with ourselves to do the sacred work of our writing.

The sacred is the one thing that this culture, this world, works very hard to kill in us. But it is not possible to kill it. Even when we forget the face of God, the flow of the Muse, the spark of creation, it is still there, waiting for us.

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