Day Twenty Three

I would like to note that this column is thanks to the suggestion of my husband. When things aren’t flowing, sometimes he says just the right thing. So enjoy a bit of whimsical frivolity for today. You never know when I’m going to get all serious on you again…and perhaps seriously dark.

MY MUSE

So, here I am, sitting at my computer without an idea. Oh, there are a million things to write about women. There is domestic abuse. Poverty. War. The Patriarchy®. Loss of abortion rights. The plight of women in other countries. It isn’t a lack of topics; it’s a lack of ideas for which topic, and how to approach it. So I sit here thinking. I often have the problem of having so many ideas I don’t know which one to write. Where did I go wrong tonight?

I have it! I have been writing a young adult fantasy series featuring witches, and a myriad of other weird characters. Among these characters, I included the Olympians. Yes, those Olympians – the ones that lived on Olympus, and the Greeks called them gods. There are quite a few Olympians. Besides the familiar ones, like Hera and Athena and Aphrodite and Artemis and…oh, yes, some male ones as well, minor deities like Zeus and Poseidon…are included some groups of Olympians. The furies come to mind, and also the muses.

Right now, the muses seem to be turning their back on me, particularly Calliope, the muse of literature. I did figure them prominently in one of my recent books in that series, but, well, I confess. I made them the bad guys. It’s possible I may have angered them enough that they decided to play a trick on me, and leave me high and dry just as I was entering the last week of Women’s History Month.

I think there are a couple of lessons one can take from this. First, don’t anger someone who’s help you might need, even if that someone doesn’t really exist. Second, in a pinch, you can write about anything, even about why you can’t write. (I learned that one already; I’ve used that topic before. Sometimes lessons have to be relearned.)

One other important lesson, one I’ve known since I was…I’d like to say since I started writing, but I have to admit, when I started writing I took myself very seriously, so I’ve known it since I matured enough to laugh at myself, and everyone else. That lesson is one I wish more people could learn…not everything you write has to be important or earth shaking. Sometimes you can write something completely frivolous.

I’m sorry it doesn’t have more to do with women, but since part of the mission statement of this marathon is that it will be written by a woman, and since I am a woman, I think I’ve met at least one of the criteria. And, if I think about it deeper, it is about women…since the muses are all female. Whew! Just slipped that one by.

Perhaps tomorrow I will be a little more inspired toward my usual types of topics.