WANTED! Missing Muse

Titan tries to help.

At the FWA conference last weekend I sat in on a session titled, Finding Your Voice, with literary agent Nicole Resciniti and author Amanda Carlson. Both ladies were friendly, inspiring, generous speakers. Throughout the presentation Amanda repeatedly said to keep writing, keep trying. When something doesn’t work, scrap it, you can do better. “You can do better.”

It’s been one of those weeks. I put in the time. You know, butt in the chair. But I couldn’t get the ideas onto the screen let alone, reduce them to tight, meaningful sentences. My head felt like an over-inflated helium balloon.

Finally, I resorted to sitting on the floor with a drawing pad and rainbow markers. There, I wrote anything and everything that came to mind. Ten scribbled pages later I was still clueless as to how to write the paragraph I was struggling with.

Even though it was dinner time, I debated cleaning the shower. I’m not sure if it’s the mindless chore that spurs inspiration or being in a confined space with strong chemicals. Anyway, the shower had already been cleaned earlier in the week and the kids were hungry, so I cooked instead.

Tyke thinks we should sleep on it.

In the middle of the night the ideal phrase, the perfect words, woke me up. They fluttered across my mind as lightly as a butterfly. They were so simple and familiar they seemed to have been there all along.

I’m happy to say the paragraph is written and best of all, it’s really sharp. It was a tedious effort but Amanda was right. I can do better.

You can too!

On the lighter side.  

Salads get a bad wrap! Get creative with your salads. They can be satisfying culinary delights. Here’s one of my recent weird-o salads. Give it a try, it’s delicious. 

Ingredients:

Chopped cucumber

Canned garbanzo beans 

Cubed ham

Diced onion

Cherry tomatoes

Crumbled Feta

Fresh chopped cilantro

Italian salad dressing

Combine ingredients. Toss. Chill. Share.

Enjoy!

Lisa