Saving

OK, I admit it. I've been saving this artwork for this post for one of those weeks where either the Muse was sulking or 'other stuff' got in the way of creating art. Well, I have to tell you that the Muse may have pouted and postulated all she wanted this week; I've been far too busy and distracted to even notice! Secretly I think she's been hanging out with her arty Muse friends. I went to London on Tuesday night and I'm sure I saw her skulking off in the direction of the Royal Academy. Still, at least if she got to see the David Hockney show, then maybe she can bring back some inspiration for me - what's a Muse for after all?

I trod the red carpet on Tuesday readers. I nearly skulked in the side door until the delightful doorman at The Mayfair Marriott reminded me that the red carpet had actually been rolled out especially for the likes of little old me and that I really should make the most of it. So, I duly pulled myself up an extra inch or two and came over all 'Helen Mirren'. I worked that carpet so hard ... it's just a shame that the paparazzi had gone to the wrong hotel...

Assume a virtue if you have it not... For use can almost change the stamp of nature

William Shakespeare, from Hamlet

I was at an awards dinner for one of my clients. Rackspace was finalist in the UK Customer Satisfaction Awards - well deserved. Not quite the BAFTAs or Oscars but frankly much more important don't you think? I was wearing Monsoon.

Back to the art. These are tiny fragments of other paintings which I've cropped and blown up in PhotoShop to create something new. I hate to miss a 'do' and Paint Party Friday have rolled out their own red carpet this week in honour of their birthday. I wonder if there will be cake?

If you go down in the woods...

My mood is dark. I am surrounded by the gloomiest forest, creepers tangle around my legs and mossy knolls catch my step. I am lost and alone. It is late and the sun is making rapid retreat. It becomes the time of the night when mortals should not tread here. It is when imagination is loose. Fantasy and fairy tale whisper through the dried and creaking boughs. Story is here...

There are so few places in this over-populated country that remain 'untouched'. Where nothing has been dug or built upon, explored and exploited. Unsurprisingly, many believe our ancient woodland is the portal to magic where pixies and elves flit among the bluebells passing by the cast of fairy tales.

I took my imagination to the woods and let her roam past dusk when the secrets are revealed. She met a lady in a red hood whose vein and sinews are formed from the flora and fauna. She carries the wisdom of wolves and the strength of woman... Are you receptive?

***

I painted 'Red' last night - on the cusp of returning to the world of work this morning, she beckoned me into a land of fantasy. It all began quite innocently when I chose to dip my imagination into the woodland for this week's Butterfly Effect challenge. I pondered painting fairies wearing acorn caps or innocent maidens skipping happily towards honeysuckle-strewn cottages and hungry Grandmothers...

But the Muse took me on a darker journey. She fed me spirits and played haunting melodies to intoxicate my senses and lose all sense of direction. She bade me play and experiment, building layer upon layer. Together we created Red.

In the light of day she looks most sinister. What do you think?

Err...

Eva

Well, it looks like I just can't stop drawing these girls on book pages... Last night I wasted a lot of time working on a bird piece that was collaged and painted and waxed and tweaked... But in the end, it just didn't tweet it for me.

Then, just as I was about to go to bed, the Muse gently nudged me back to the art table. "Go on... just one..." she urged. What could I say? When the Muse calls you listen (or she sulks for days refusing to come out to play). Then one face turned into two and the clock ticked way past my bedtime...

I love how I can get away with giving these girls messed up hair. In this sense they are very self-portrait. I have never been able to tame my fine mane. That's 'fine' as in thin and weedy, rather than a spectacle of luxurious coiffure.

Still there's plenty of other parts of me that chug along happily without being tamed. My imagination certainly enjoys being free to roam. Last night I scored a golfing hole in one in my dream. Everyone bought me a drink. It was very jolly... But later I was trying to find my way home and lost in Brighton while looking for Waterloo Station. It promised to be a long search as it's about 60 miles further north in London! Then before I knew it, suddenly I had match-side seats to watch Liverpool play some other team at football, but all the guys I was with said they'd prefer to go to the cinema... It's a strange old world that subconscious...

Samphire

(I knew it wouldn't be too long before a mermaid demanded to be included in this set!)

Day 5 of Art Every Day Month - I'm having so much fun!! It's never too late to join in.

Looking back and looking in

This week Inspiration Avenue the Etsy Group and creative challenge blog (of which I am a member) is celebrating hitting 500 followers with a little party. We have giveaways and something creative for you to join in with. Our challenge this week is to share what gives you the inspiration to create.

Now, let me tell you a story... Over two years ago I came across these creative ladies when they held another blog party on a similar theme. I shared what stirs my soul to write and paint and before I knew it had found myself with a whole heap of new friends keen to support me on my artistic journey. With their encouragement I opened my own Etsy shop, became a member of their wonderful tribe and sold some art! Without these wonderfully kind and caring folk, I doubt I would have had the confidence to keep trying new techniques, pushing myself and listening to the Muse inside me who was begging to be let out to play.

So, my Inspiration is YOU! Thank you both team mates and the wonderfully talented artists and creatives who join in every week with our challenges - your work never ceases to amaze me! I hope you don't think it's a cop out, but rather than create something new for this week, I really wanted to share again what started it all over two years ago. If I have time later in the week, I may add a few more to this list, but really want to get to that party right now... I just can't wait!


5 degrees of inspiration (originally posted 1st August 2009)

I've been invited to a wonderful party - fancy dress of course! Come dressed in your five favourite inspirations... It's not too late to join in, grab your 'drive' and journey over...

Inspiration. The word seems to brush gently as it passes your lips,

gossamer soft and strangely enticing.

Primo - My Muse

She is surely a magical thing but playful too. My secret self who will creep up on me when least expected, and don’t think she follows any rules. No way! Inspiration makes an appearance only when she wants to. It’s her terms or no terms.

Inspiration is my muse; she is what turns a dull day into a fine one; a pile of old paper into a work of art and a tiny germ of an idea into a full-blown pandemic of explosive creativity! Sometimes I just have to sit at a keyboard or in front of some art materials and she will weave her spells. Occasionally she makes me work a bit harder for her services. However, the time she pays me most visits (the little minx) is late at night when I am trying to sleep. POP goes the bubble of idea she sends me scuttling into my brain and spreading out its interesting tendrils, exploring a myriad possibilities. Will I remember by morning? Possibly not, so my muse gives me a quick nudge, turns on the bedside lamp and presents me with my beautiful floral notebook into which I diligently record her delightful suggestions.

Secondo - Artists & Creatives

The creativity of others – whether it be a beautiful ACEO on Etsy or gazing in awe in front of the great Masters. Standing in front of the Canalettos in the National Gallery in London, I once had what can only be described as a moment of self-discovery. It is almost impossible to put into words. I felt uplifted and suddenly in touch with lost emotion, with the desire to create and dig for soul treasure.

Websites like Etsy had me dreaming and drooling until suddenly I stopped thinking "if only" and instead dived in head first into a box of art supplies. I came out sticky, paint-stained, crumpled, creased, frustrated, exhilarated but above all motivated. No matter the result, it's the journey that counts. It doesn't have to rank alongside Canaletto, Rosetti or Monet. It just has to please me.

My soul is like a sponge soaked in all this inspirational juice. Everywhere I turn I'm drenched in showers of it. Thank you to all you lovely creative people.
Terzo - Italy

What magic lifts from the fragrant hills? What secrets lie behind honeyed walls and terracotta tile? What secret elixir inhabits the vino rosso? Maybe it is the incurable romantic in me, but there is something timelessly enticing about the land of Romeo and his sweetheart. Artists and writers across the centuries have been drawn in mesmerised and, growing up in such surroundings how can you fail but to become Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Puccini or even Ferrari?

The first time I sat open-mouthed in front of the film adaptation of the E M Forster classic, A Room with a View, I was in love. I only have to catch a passing glimpse of rolling Tuscan countryside and I am reaching for paintbrush. Ah if only I could truly capture that essence.

Quarto - Feedback

Well, I admit that no one really likes criticism but if ever anything was guaranteed to goad me into action to improve anything I have created then a little niggling dig is sure to rile the Muse into action - providing of course that you see their point of view (there's always a caveat!). "I'll show them..."

But thankfully the scales of happiness do sometimes swing in our favour. How wonderful to receive praise... but is it really as good at kick-starting the Muse? Does it not put extra pressure to out-perform or at the very least equal?

And who can ever resist the pull of a little healthy competition too?

And now alas my inner critic is chastising me. How can I possibly post this without an appropriate picture? I don't have any artwork that quite epitomises the inspiring power of a few choice words. No, not excellent.


Quinto - Heston Blumenthal

Just watch and tell me you're not inspired! Anything is possible. Pure genius.

Heston is arguably one of the world's greatest chefs and undoubtedly the most imaginative.

He is a man who thrives on creativity, cut him in half (not recommended) and he'll have it written through him. It doesn't matter whether he creates culinary concoctions, advertisements, films or breeze blocks. It's about having the nerve to fire up that creativity with inspiration from the most unlikely sources; never being afraid to try something different and, possibly most important, keeping at it until you get the results you're after - it may not be exactly what you set out to do at the start, but it's giving people what they didn't know they wanted - and boy do they want it!

Thank you for the invite. I'm having fun so far, but a little lonely at the party on my own... Who will turn up next and what costumes will they be wearing?

The Muse in disguise

It's funny, I've written so many posts about my Muse over the years, yet as soon as I find a writing prompt to do so, she deserts me. I can hear her now, laughing hysterically in the background, at my foolish belief that she'd bend to my will. Fickle creature. I have a cunning plan though... I will leave this post for a while and sneak back when she is least expecting...

You see the Muse might be her own woman, but she does have a tendency to turn up while you are creating. She's nosy. Once you've got her in your thrall then she just can't help giving you a little idea or inspiring thought here and there. Suddenly from nowhere, the word feather will appear and you'll realise it's just what you needed to finish your piece.

The Muse loves mermaids. Perhaps that's where she goes when sneaks off - to swim with sirens? This mermaid wanted to go to the Reef Masked Ball. It's a sumptous affair with everyone having a whale of a time proudly displaying their coral and pearl jewels. Melissa wanted to be a little different so had a word with Freddy the Flying Fish (he's well known to be able to procure anything and he owed Melissa a favour after she got him out of trouble with the loan shark).

Melissa's mask has feathers thanks to Freddy (probably best not to ask where he got them from... although have you seen that parrot without a tail?

Shh.... the Muse is back and she's in a playful mood...

We made this together but can't quite decide if we prefer the original (immediately above) or the one with a little PhotoShopped texture (up top). Freddy says he likes the first one, but he would as he supplied the texture.

It's disguise theme at Illustration Friday this week. We're sneaking in under cover...

Keeping control of the To Do list

I've been great today. I made a huge list to carry me over the next few weeks. It's all about getting organised. I banned art  (my universal distraction) from the equation until I had accomplished a good sized chunk from the mountain of tasks.

The universe was with me - for did not she dictate to my Muse that she must go on vacation for a few days? The poor Muse was distraught (she had some serious plans for me this evening that involved getting glued to a great deal of paper and ruining my nicely varnished fingernails with acrylic paint). In fact, the Muse was so cross that as she left, she slammed the kitchen door... which dislodged a picture from balancing on a shelf ... which fell onto a pile of paperwork underneath.... which unsteadied the filing trays underneath... which caused the whole lot to come crashing down over the floor.

The Muse legged it, while the Universe looked on and smiled (this chaos being her intention all along). Now, I could have just shoved it all back from whence it came, but no dear readers, I did not. I removed it to the lounge and spread it across the floor and began to SORT THROUGH IT... Yes, I know that might seem strange for those that know me, but this house is beginning to resemble that chubby kid from Willy Wonka who eats too much and blows up into a big balloon. I fear one false move and the fragile skin will burst and where will we be then? Bedlam I suspect.

And so, things began well, but I'm sure you've guessed. Yes, they stalled. The West wind began to blow and up flew the 'to do' list and darted out the window. I chased it down the garden path, but that pesky breeze wanted to play. Last I saw it was headed in the direction of the coast - probably fancies a paddle.

And so:
I forgot all about the list
I got bored sorting through mountains of paper.
I had paid work waiting for me (on a more tightly controlled list kept trapped inside a hard drive)
The Muse only leaves when you don't want her to
I got distracted by my favourite art board on Pinterest
I thought I might just write a quick blog post...

But help is in the air. Goddess Leonie is providing an e-course in decluttering and getting all zen. I felt it might be worth the investment and hope there will be other sufferers like me there to hold my hand. We'll see.... The Goddess haven beckons...

Under their wing

I've lost count of the number of online art classes I've taken in the last year or so. I've learnt so much from them and would probably count them as a little addiction. Before I finish the current one, I'm planning the next or dreaming over technique or inspiration books. Frankly I just can't get enough.

I took some time yesterday to think why that was and the reason came to me in a flash (of paint naturally - crimson acrylic to be specific). I want my own personal teacher! One that sits next to me in the same room and shows me where I am going wrong (and indeed right!). One that teaches me technique by live demonstration so I can stop and pester with questions - all the Whys and Hows that I like! I'd love someone to push me so hard I teeter on the brink but at the same time produce my best work.

Right now I feel like I'm trying to catch up on 20 years of missed opportunity; cramming all that learning into as short a space of time as possible.

Where can I find such a person? Could I ever afford them? I'd love to go back and study art full time but that's just not possible. It's a shame because I am ready for it now... I understand... I feel the pull, the tugs at my soul. My Muse would love it too.

Do you think instead that the ghosts of Van Gogh, Klimt or JW Waterhouse might fancy taking up residence with me for a while? Full board and lodging in return for a lesson or two??

Perhaps Mucha could have helped with this! Nearly finished homework for my Willowing class (just need to take a touch of the undead out of her skin tone). Mucha - if you're listening - I had serious trouble with her hands - I rushed them - and had to give her a couple of nurturing hearts to hold... with her grey arms. What would you have done oh wise one?

PS - That's not a zebra in the bottom left corner, but merely my slippered foot holding the painting down in the wild wind. Taking photos outside seemed like a good idea at the time until she took off for a tour around the garden!

The Book of Lisa

This is very much how my book looks at the moment. It has its heroine and some words but the story is all jumbled and seems destined to remain so. Yet time... in that way it has... is slowly ticking away... Has the moment now arrived to put all this talk into substance?

 I am deep in thoughts and plans for the New Year. I have even put to work a new notebook on the subject Lists sit neatly and safely within a pretty cloth cover tied with a blue bow). My ambitions and goals are written in blood (well ink from a Bic actually, but that doesn't sound quite so melodramatic!). I feel that the last year saw a massive growth in my creativity. There was more focus, loads of learning - I dare not calculate how much money I spent on all those online courses - and so much practice and, above all, fun!

In the last two years I've written over 500 blog posts. I make my living by writing and thinking creatively. Yet I feel there is still so much to be achieved. It has been noted that perhaps I hide in my art away from the tricky task of book writing and publication. You see, picking up a pencil is much easier and requires more relaxed thinking. I can watch TV at the same time or natter to the family. I can listen to music and go from start to finish in as little as half an hour.

Beginning to write a book however, is the first brush mark on the Forth Road Bridge! Chapter after chapter stretches out across the horizon, empty and waiting for its piece of the story and then when I finish, what then? Statistically unlikely to be snapped up by agent or publisher first go, so it will be back to the beginning... Is it any wonder I keep putting it off?

The clock keeps ticking though. The next 12 months will see me submit short stories and artwork for publication (the first one actually went off today!). My word for 2011 then? Well, it can only be one... PUBLISHED!

I was planning on writing this post anyway, but it ties in very nicely with two wonderful challenges. The Three Muses - Book and Inspiration Avenue - reflecting on the last and future 12 months.

She is my Muse - an excerpt from a painting I did last night, with some digital additions of words and time piece.

Colouring in before drawing

Push Push Push. I keep at it, trying new techniques, learning, experimenting. Today was doing the colouring in before I had a picture!

I've been falling in love with watercolour again this week. I'm taking a course (yeah, I know, how many times have you heard me say that!?) on Whimsical Watercolours and I just finished another (!) on journalling techniques which involved this media too. I've been blending and splashing and watching those translucent colours meld into each other. I'd forgotten the wonderful things they do on paper; your tool is the water - such a simple ingredient, but just look at the results of the spells!

There's other things I want to do too today - like make something for Sunday Sketches, and so I push myself to combine the two. I'm also mindful of The Three Muses upcoming Movie challenge. Months ago I bottled out of drawing the enigmatic Neytiri from Avatar because 'I didn't do faces'. Then I found Suzi Blu and things have never been the same since. I've written about my love for painting faces once this week already so won't repeat myself... except to say.... I LOVE DRAWING AND PAINTING FACES!!

So I thought I'd practice drawing a slightly alien form on this watery mottle. Here is Neytiri with the colours of the forest at night reflecting in her face (which is why she isn't blue - artistic licence you understand - and the fact that I laid down the colour wash before I'd decided what to draw! Sometimes the Muse just likes to keep you on your toes!).

I have to share how thrilled I was to be an inspiration for another. Elizabeth, a fellow blogger so enjoyed looking at my pink flower creation (that I made for Breast Cancer Awareness), that she made one herself. It's part of a fabulous post of wonderful artwork on her site - Altered Book Lover - do pop along to browse around her gallery.

Soothing comfort... Sunday sketching...

I've been like a brittle, coiled spring all day. Wound up beyond my normal calm exterior, tetchy, short-tempered. Remember the pimple on the chin on Thursday? Well, let's just put two and two together, throw in a bloated belly and a few aches here and there and we all know my problem!

I told my boyfriend (who for his own safety is now in his own home) that I might try sketching tonight as a calming mechanism. I was also keen to join in with the Sunday Sketching gang hosted by Sophia; a perfect prompt for a bit of art. My Muse was sulking so I enlisted Suzi Blu to inspire and watched the first of my new online videos for the 3/4 face portrait. Well, it's as if she knew, bless her little cotton socks. She sketched and chatted and extolled the soothing virtues of sketching... She loves how it calms her down before bedtime.... Oh yes, me too! I think I shall have fun practising for this class.

I do actually feel much better. I may go to bed now while I retain this mood of serenity and hope for gentle dreams.

Goodnight!

A song of enchantment

A Song of Enchantment by Walter de la Mare

A song of Enchantment I sang me there,

In a green-green wood, by waters fair,

Just as the words came up to me

I sang it under the wild wood tree.

Widdershins turned I, singing it low,

Watching the wild birds come and go;

No cloud in the deep dark blue to be seen

Under the thick-thatched branches green.

Twilight came: silence came:

The planet of Evening's silver flame;

By darkening paths I wandered through

Thickets trembling with drops of dew.

But the music is lost and the words are gone

Of the song I sang as I sat alone,

Ages and ages have fallen on me -

On the wood and the pool and the elder tree.

My entry for Mixed Media Monday's Enchantment theme. I was inspired by this beautiful poem which I think does most of my talking for me today!

The photo of my piece looks a bit flat which is a shame because this really does have some depth of colour and texture to it. The more observant among you may recognise this enchanted nymph for she graced my blog just a week ago in a more reflective mood.

She was a part of a painting that didn't quite turn out as expected, but seeing as I think she has a bit of my Muse in her, she wasn't going to take that laying down. No siree, as I contemplated what I would paint for this, a red haired beauty with green eyes came to mind. Something nagged at the back of my mind and I remembered I had left her abandoned and unfinished.

The wonders of acrylics - so forgiving, you can just paint over your mistakes! I also used a bit of collage at the bottom and I'm sure you can spot the fibres. The flower on the left was a print out of a photograph of mine, the bird and flowers on the bottom right are gift wrap - though they have both been so heavily painted over that they bear little resemblance to the original!

My Muse was happy with the result. She's very vain and likes to be seen out as much as possible!

Something in the air

I'm a hopeless romantic and as soon as I read the prompt for the Three Muses' challenge this week... something in the air... I knew it had to be love!

I had an interesting time with my Muse tonight. She pushed me back in the direction of portrait painting though I wanted to wait until I start my new course (more on that another day). She was insistent. "Paint someone who looks like they're dreaming of their new love" she urged... Easier said than done. I laid down a few layers to my story first before she began to take shape. She wasn't enveloped in a gentle romance though. There was a sadness to her eyes tinged with jealousy. Was it unrequited love?

I took her to the magician called Photoshop to see what could be done for such a terrible love sickness. The remedy called for a trip to Paris. Surely that's the last place she should be going to alone? Ah... we see she wishes to inflict more pressure on the cracks in her heart... Is that a wintry moon shining down on the passionate embrace of her love with another or perhaps the green-eyed monster? There's surely something in the air on the banks of the Seine this chilly evening...

Background: my painting
Embracing couple with street lamp: getty images
Over-active imagination: I think I'll claim that as mine too

My Muse - inspiration trois

Following on the theme of my inspirations, let's have a chat about the creative Muse.

I promise that this will be the last post in which I mention her for a while. It’s just that she is so narcissistic at the moment and, having been commented on favourably once this week, just wants all the attention. In another moment of serendipity (and they seem to be happening all over the place at the moment), I found this amazing YouTube link on Hybrid J’s blog. It’s well worth 20 minutes of your time.

Author Elizabeth Gilbert recounts her own experiences of creative block and the pressure that artists and writers put themselves under to create their next masterpiece.

She ponders the eternal question: Where does creativity come from? Is it a gift? Is a part of you or a mystic being that visits you from time to time, but only when it feels like it?

Fasten up your sandals and take a step back in time to the ancient Greeks and Romans. They believed that the spark was outside of you – and even named it. The Greeks referred to their creativity as a Daemon and the Romans, most interestingly, a Genius! She doesn’t mention the Geni in the lamp but surely this is linked too – after all it is the granter of wishes the creator of dreams come true.

Sometimes when I return to something I’ve written or created I almost don’t recognise it as something that came from me. Does that sound strange? I internally marvel at where the idea came from, the sentence structure, the ideas. I admit I only think this when it’s something I am particularly proud of. When it’s a pile of old pants I always seem only to willing to take ownership! Am I just not believing in myself or is there really a Daemon that takes over at the keyboard or picks up the paintbrush through me? What defines creativity? What makes one person say “I’m not creative” and yet gives another the freedom to take materials or words and just let go with them?

We’re all born with the survival instinct, but what about creativity? Does everyone have it but it just lies dormant? I heard another amazing quote here today - it went something along the lines of : If you give a four-year-old paper and crayons, you never hear them say 'I can't... I don't have any talent'. How true. To a child creativity=fun. This is something I have had to teach myself again as a grown up. A little reminder of youthful pleasures.

We are so afraid of embarassing ourselves. Putting our work on show. I don't care anymore though. I just blame my Muse now - she can bear the brunt of criticism and take the praise; my half of the deal is that I get all the fun! I entreat you all to do the same - go invite a Daemon or Genius into your lives and let them show you how it's done.

As Elizabeth Gilbert says: Just do your job. Turn up (and hope the Muse does too).

I’ve ordered a few books on the subject from those nice folk in the Amazon so no doubt I will be sharing a few more thoughts on the subject soon. Providing they ever arrive… seems like they are being paddled down the winding river, rather than employing a faster mode of transport. Ooh the frustration…

Illustration: My Muse posed for me here (or was she just perhaps painting a self portrait?). She's another of my 'colouring in' experiments from the pages of Vogue - mixed media and spot of smudging in Photoshop. I really should save the 'before' picture as well as the 'after'. You'd never guess she was once encumbered by a pile of over-sized soap lying atop of her. Remember kiddies - this technique is easy and fun. Just paint over your subject with gesso, then acrylic and oil pastel on top (other mediums are available!).

When the muse strikes

I keep staring at this blank page. I am not normally at a loss for words when it comes to blogging, but yesterday I made a dreadful mistake. I told someone that 'there is a story in anything; you just need to find the right angle'. But where is my story tonight? Why is there so much white on this page? Instead, I shall share with you a little creation I was rather chuffed with. Experimenting once again with the plethora of materials I have so thoughtfully stored for art supply shops over the years, I had a bash at a technique new to me.

I've never been happy with my figure drawing, so imagine my joy when I learnt that creating a mermaid could be as easy as ripping a page out of a magazine. This lady started off in a silver sequined evening dress strutting her stuff on a page of high fashion. Now she resides in a watery palace, a siren of the sea. She seems quite enamoured of her new home and I think has her eye on a sexy merman, or maybe she just wants to nibble on a lobster or mollusk or two. She loves her flowing tresses and thinks I made her eyes up most prettily. Off she swims to find her muse again...

Me and my Muse

It's funny, a week ago I wrote a post worrying about blogger's block as I seemed to have dried up on ideas to write about. Then, last night I'm at the PC trying to work on my novel when my Muse kicked in and bombarded me with more blog ideas than I know what to do with, she (for I instinctively know she is feminine) was interrupting me so much I made little progress on the fiction. The interesting thing was that I was actually partaking of an exercise to kick-start my Muse, but she decided that blogging was far more fun. The secret is that I don't much care at the moment, as long as I'm writing. You see the more I write, the more I feel like a writer. I just love sitting down at the keyboard or balancing my notebooks on my lap and seeing words flow from my fingers like magic. It makes me feel great! I think my Muse knows this. She is after all privvy to my unconscious thought. We all have a Muse inside us but modern technology and scientific-driven lives make us question too much so we don't often react when they start talking to us, pushing us in certain directions. I'm a strong believer in following gut instinct. If you don't believe me, read a book called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell!