Writing is Like Sesame Street

I feel exactly like Don Music today. "I'll never finish it. Never!"



How about you?

Let's just hope that, at least, it's a sunny day.

Nurturing Creativity

My sister sent me the link to this absolutely fantastic talk by author Elizabeth Gilbert.



I love the way that she says that the pressure of expecting a mere, single human being to be a font of creative genius is "like asking someone to swallow the sun," and that perhaps we need to try to overcome centuries of humanistic theory about the source of creative inspiration.

I also love the comparison of one's muse to Dobby the House Elf, lurking in the walls and suddenly jumping out at you. Not just because it's such an apt metaphor, but because it's such a pertinent example of how one person's faithfulness to their muse can create a whole new aspect of a culture. (That is a reference to Harry Potter, for those of you unfamiliar with J. K. Rowling's work.)

If I have a muse (or damon or genius or whatever you want to call it) it probably looks like a panther, staring me down with its yellow eyes, telepathing "Would you get off of Blogger and start writing already?"