Have you been longing for inspiration to strike before you can write? Or perhaps waiting for a muse to appear? To Merriam-Webster, the muse is “a guiding genius.” Vocabulary.com describes it as “a source of artistic inspiration.” For a host of would-be writers out there, it’s something they’re waiting for before they start writing. But prolific writers, those who regularly produce new work, don’t wait for the muse. They know that the writer is the one calling the shots.
“Inspiration is merely a byproduct of your hard work,” says Jeff Goins, author of The Art of Work. “You can’t wait for inspiration. The Muse is really an out-of-work bum who won’t move until you do. Show her who’s boss and that you mean business.”
You know those Hollywood movies about writer’s block? Like Adaptation, The Muse, Barton Fink, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and perhaps most famously, The Shining. They depict the fictional blocked writer as variously inept, conflicted, distracted, or just plain crazy.
Every one of these films was of course written — by definition — by a writer not suffering from writer’s block! Perhaps their presentation of these hapless imaginary writers suggests something significant.
The Shining‘s author, Stephen King, puts it like this: “There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter… Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you’re going to be every day from nine ’til noon or seven ’til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he’ll start showing up, chomping his cigar and making his magic.”
Thanks, Steve. We about-to-become-prolific writers needed to hear that.
