"Writing is a socially acceptable form of Schizophrenia." ~E.L. Doctorow

No writing again today, which was actually kind of hard on me. Made me feel a little better that my muse is winning the arm wrestle with my internal critic. Wound up doing some work in my Scribblings book (a leather journal I put all my ideas and even some actual prose in) but mostly worked on this blog. I figure since my book involves so much nature, my blog should be full of the same greenery. Also worked on my Facebook, so feel free to drop me a request on there.


http://www.facebook.com/SomeSharpWords


Today I'm going to spend some time on Muse Therapy, Unleashing Your Inner Sybil by D.D. Scott. I think this should be required reading for any would-be author. What have I learned from the book? Well, first that I don't drink enough. (Just kidding... kind of) Most of the anecdotes and stories involve liquor in some form or another. Don't get me wrong, I like an occasional glass of wine or perhaps a Malibu and Coke. But i find that alcohol is not a GIFT to my muse but a DISTRACTION. "Vermouth and Voices. My kind of Muse Therapy." ~D.D. Scott. All kidding aside the book is amazing and full of all kinds of useful tools to keep those word counts climbing.


I named my muse (exercise one) yesterday and thought I'd share it with you here. I call my muse Brittney. She has a habit of disappearing for long periods of time and partying like a rock star, only to wake me up in the middle of the night just to hang. When she's on she just might show up in a green bikini top with a python on her shoulders. Her dysfunctions are larger than life, but her successes seem even bigger. She might shave her head and flash her naughty bits for the world to see, but she'll come back and she can still set the page on fire. When she's on, she's on fire, and boy do I love to watch her burn.  


Might make my first Muse Trip today, though I don't know if it qualifies. It happens to be one of the happiest places on Earth, in my opinion. No, not Disney World, Luthy Botanical Gardens here in Peoria. It may not be the most impressive botanical gardens in the world, but it is the best I knew as a kid. OK, so it was the only one I knew, but it is still one of the places that gives me a happy. It also happens to be the setting for the final climax of Nature Lover and I want to make sure I capture it properly. So I will probably lace up the sneakers, grab the Nikon and trace Lia and Nate through those final moments. See if what I see in my head would actually work.


And the final bit of muse therapy I'd like to share (and I worked pretty hard on these in Photoshop yesterday) is the faces that populate my Scribblings book, the faces that are my characters. Each character tells you what they are, but I wanted to explain (in case you haven't heard) what the bulk of them are. Gaia was the ancient Greek Goddess who ruled over the Earth, the ultimate personification of Mother Nature. But she was just one member of an entire race that has now taken her name. The females of the race have all the healing and nurturing properties, the gift of life. The men have the destructive powers, lightning, erosion and weather.So without further adieu, I present to you my muses.

The problem with writing for young adults is if you think your characters are kind of hot, you're a little bit of a perv... Ah, well, I shall embrace my perviness cause I love all my characters. Hopefully everyone else will too.