There are giant piles of books out there about creativity and how to access it. Most of them say about the same thing, filtered through a giant pile of lenses.
One of those books that I absolutely can’t remember the title of at the moment1 said something about how the Muse only comes to you if you’re sitting down to work already. Which is solid advice. Inspired or not, if you sit down and just start doing something with your chosen art form, chances are, inspiration will eventually catch up.
I was thinking about this today, while looking at a blank sketchbook page.
And it occurred to me that, if this is true, it means that the Muse isn’t absent when you’re not inspired. It just means the Muse has a prey drive.
She’s like a greyhound: laying there being the fastest couch potato on the planet…until a rabbit runs by and suddenly she goes from zero to sixty in hot pursuit.
Or like Porkchop, when sleeping so hard that he may as well be in stasis mode…unless there’s a squirrel and then OH BOY HE’S AWAKE NOW, thankyouverymuch.
The Muse is sort of bloodthirsty, if you think about it that way2.
After deciding the Muse is an apex predator, I still had no idea what to write for you guys today.
I have a list of potential topics on my phone, but apparently I left that in my purse on Tuesday and forgot to charge it until just now. So I grabbed one of my list books3 and picked a topic, and now y’all get this:
My Five Favorite Mushrooms in the PNW.
(because you know it’s been a burning question for you.)
Have a great weekend, folks.
Just don’t lick any unknown fungi4.
to be fair, it may also be an internet meme, so pretend I’m offering you a nice, hefty grain of salt with this not-quote.
And I totally am going to think about it this way now, forever, because it is a Think you can’t really UN-think once it’s been thunk. My muse will forever have canines dripping with artist’s blood, I’m afraid.
This one’s _Curious Lists_, a little Chronicle Books thing that was at the library book sale.
And probably not any known ones, unless you ask permission. Just saying.
The mushroom sketches are beautiful. And I like your #lifegoal!
Just chiming in to say, I was inspired by you to buy a set of dog talking buttons (or whatever they're called). I am impatiently waiting for the Amazon man to deliver same.
Will keep you abreast of our experiences with same.
"Same" referring to the dog buttons, not the Amazon man. Cute as he may be. Ahem.
~David