How to connect with your muse

It's time to knuckle down and create that blog post, freelance article or the early drafts of that book. You have made the commitment - to others and to yourself - but the inspiration (and motivation) is just not there. The ideas are far and few between and time is slipping away.

This makes you feel anxious, and you know all too well from experience that your muse doesn’t dance hand-in-hand with apprehension. She’d rather move at her own pace, frolicking and twirling on an open ballroom all of her own.

This doesn’t change the fact that there is a deadline looming and white space where your story should be taking form (‘Should’ being used very loosely here).

So how do you connect with the muse when you need to most?

Firstly, it’s important to understand and accept that it’s normal.

It’s normal to be lost for ideas, frazzled and not sure where to go next. Wipe the shame and the judgement. The most prolific of writers experience times when the inspiration is at an all time low. That doesn’t stop them though. There are times when there is ease and flow, and others when whatever is happening in your life (or in your day for that matter), there just isn’t.

Some days the words and messages just arrive, delivered from your brain to your fingertips in a thoughtfully packaged parcel (why thank you!), and other times, there is nada. Zilch. Zippo. I’m the first to raise my hand to this experience.

Here are some tools to help awaken your silent muse, as shy as she may be.

How to write to have an impact

A conversation, a divinely worded paragraph in a book you are reading or perhaps a random act of kindness you were fortunate to witness has you excited. The sparks are flying, ideas are flowing and you’re feeling inspired to write a blog post, an article or a story to share with your readers; something that they will find value in.

You start typing, a little manically at first, afraid that you might lose your train of thought. Words, intrigue and thought bubbles spill onto the page.

Ok, it’s a tad scattered but you’re getting it down, translating for the muse so to speak.

The words aren’t exactly the words you want to be using to describe this message, but hey, you can always go back and make those edits.

On the tip of your tongue is the expression you are after, but you can’t seem to find it. The line which would capture the essence with such poetic grace, your readers would be nodding in uniform agreement.

Vague descriptions sit in place of fine-tuned statements. It feels… hollow. Something is missing. It’s lacking power; the juice that gets people’s heads turning.

Then you pause.

You ask yourself: Does this even make sense to anyone else who is not in my head?

Then that imposter strides on in.

Who wants to read about this anyway? Is it even any good?

The momentum is lost. That initial high of inspiration has fizzled along with your idea. The copy joins the folder of countless unfinished drafts and random musings that sits on your laptop, and you’re left feeling frustrated and unsatisfied.

Can you relate? Sounding a little too familiar? If you are a writer (or have dabbled with the world of words), I’m sure you have ridden this creative curve more than a few times. I certainly have.

Blog-Hearted

I flick back to the pages of my diary, to April 2013, and read these words:

“I want to create a space for storytelling and exchange, with advocacy and human rights at its core. An online pocket for positivity, creative exploration, social inquiry, and community building.”

Then below, I read this note to myself:

“Remember Leah, to accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.”

More than one year on, it’s almost surreal to see these early ideas scribbled among the pages of my ear-bent, post-it tagged, leaflet holding, multi-highlighted diary, which is falling apart at its seams (held together by a large pink elastic band) that has been lugged from Australia and across Europe, northern Africa and into Asia. This very diary has been my comrade on late night bus trips, during flight delays and rocky voyages, on sun soaked beaches and during days in the park, and of course, while sipping on many a chai in cafes and restaurants.

This diary carries with it the very beginnings of what is unraveling day-by-day: my dream, my vision, my penultimate idea.

Photo by Jason Di-Candilo @billthebadger

To create an online space, which shares stories of people, groups and projects that are BEING THE CHANGE we want to see in the world (as an appropriation of the Gandhi quote). Stories which aim to augment people's understanding of the world, bolster greater connection, inspire and build opportunities for collective action, and ultimately, radically change the world.

And what do you know? That’s what I’ve created. A feat aided and supported by the Bright-Eyed and Blog-Hearted online 8-week course by Rachel MacDonald from In Spaces Between.