A Muse Me

He he. Nice pun, right? No? Well, blame my nano-fried brain. I do want to talk about Muses today though. What is a Muse? Well, technically a Muse is a goddess daughter of Zeus who inspires the creativity of artists. But you've all heard the expression I'm sure. Finding your Muse isn't always easy to do. After all, I'm sure even goddesses are busy.

So how do you attract a Muse? Make yourself irresistible. Be the perfect artist. How do you do that?

1. Don't wait for inspiration. Inspire yourself. You can find ideas anywhere really. A good place to start is a "What if" question. What if someone stole all the color in the world? See? I just did that. Right now. You try it...

2. Surround yourself with the right environment. Don't try to squeeze in a page while balancing a toddler in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. I'm sure it has indeed been done. But try your best to give yourself a good solid block of time dedicated solely to your art. Make your own special space. Whether that's in an office, a bedroom, outside, or at Starbucks, well, that's up to you.

3. Be a good observer. Pay attention to the people and things around you. You never know if there's a story hiding right in front of your nose. Make up a story about something that seems out of place to you. Ask a question about someone's outfit. Why is that gorgeous woman wearing frumpy clothes? Is she trying to hide something? Protect herself? Low self-esteem?

4. Be nice to yourself. That's right. Be kind to yourself, give yourself space and time. Don't beat yourself up. Don't be arrogant either though. Be gracious if you want to entice the Muse.

And if the Muse still doesn't come? Eh - frankly if you can do all these things for yourself, who needs her???