For those of us writing, creating, playing music, drawing, the process of inspiration is one filled with mystery and uncertainty. It’s a magical process where one moment we are at a complete loss and the next we have that special eureka! moment.

Recently I’ve been playing with an idea that I’ve read about in multiple places– books like Muse Food (Recipes for Creativity), Writing on Both Sides of the Brain: Breakthrough Techniques for People Who Write, and Holly Lisle’s How To Think Sideways Class. The idea is to actually get to know your own personal muse by associating it with a character or image. Then when you need to get creative you can pull this image to the fore front and allow the creative side of your mind to play around with it. With a notebook or your artist tools in front of you, bringing up your muse and perhaps entreating its help can be a surprising way to get through to great ideas.

Dance of Apollo with the Nine Muses

It sounded at first to me like a silly idea, but let’s think about the Ancient Greeks. They did the same thing! They personified the idea of “muse” as a collection of nine inspiring women who ranged in expertise from music to drama to poetry. There was a different face to every art, and these were treated as deities. The populace built shrines for them, and gave them their own springs. So when they needed to write a love poem there was a simple procedure: go to the holy place of Erato, maybe leave an offering or say a prayer, and mill around until you get an idea. Were Shakespeare, Chaucer and Homer in touch with their muses? I don’t know honestly, but entreaties to the muses can be found in their works.

So I see no reason why in a pinch you can’t borrow from the Ancient Greeks. But in the modern age wouldn’t it be great if you had your own personal muse? Someone who matches your style or the style of your current work? The way I think this method works is because it’s playful, it helps to encourage that silly imaginative side of yours to come out and start making things up. Just thinking about your muse should put a smile on your lips or give you a emotional reaction full of fodder for your art.

I’ll start! Like the ancient Greeks, I can’t just choose one. Several muses have come to me over the past few weeks.

Muse 1. Roomful of Unruly Children

If you’ve ever had to watch a group of kids, then you know there is nothing more terribly imaginative. Glance the other direction and they’ll be fighting, grinding gum into the floor, pulling hair and crying. It strikes fear into my heart honestly! But wouldn’t it be nice if you could borrow their creative powers? They sure as hell have a lot of fun, look at the unabashed glee in the picture above. And nothing helps a writing move like conflict conflict conflict! If there is a detail I need to work out, I think I’ll throw it into the kid pit.

Muse 2. Staff Twirling Woman on a Bridge

I don’t have a picture of this one, but to pamper my muse I’m going to pay an artist friend to sketch her out for me. A woman dressed in red and neutral tones stands on a wooden bridge. She guards it with a heavy staff that twirls between her hands so fast it’s a blur. In her hazel eyes you know that no challenger can get past her. She’s a force to contend with.

I admire her strength and discipline–things I need in taking criticism and writing novels with diligence. I wonder if one day she might tell me her story…

Muse 3. Mother Octopus

This last guide of mine has come to me in several scenes of my current work, Line of Isis. I am amazed by octopus, especially the idea that the animals could be enormous and waiting at the bottom of the ocean. I see “Mother Octopus” as an ancient and magical spirit who can transform into other shapes, too. She is quiet but powerful, rich with depth. While the kids deal with the petty stuff, she concerns herself with only things large enough to ensnare in her massive tentacles. (Did you know octopus sometimes carry around coconuts to hide in??)

So that’s my gang. If you’d like to find your own muse, look through magazines or doodle or journal. How does your creativity express itself? Is it fast or slow? Patient or erratic? Jumping up and down or sitting Indian style? Think of what it likes and dislikes, jot down a quick list. Perhaps try a mind map. Try for a bit and then work on your art, do you notice any inspiration? Muses are long term sources of creativity so revisit them and have fun!

See my pinterest of more muse images I’ve collected, or my inspiration board for my mermaid project, Line of Isis.

                   

This short story begins with a break-in. Amanda Kerwood steps into her photography studio to discover her research thrown on the floor, an important file missing, and, most importantly, her computer is gone. On the comp as well as the missing backups, are the final proofs for her upcoming studio show. Catastrophe. And the police aren’t easy to deal with either.

The subject matter of the show? Nude models, specifically, nudes displaying scars from surgeries that include breast tissue donors. Some give their tissue so that others may be beautiful. But what are they left as? Trash.

I thought this mystery was nicely paced for a short story. I did find myself skimming through excessive detail on camera tech. I know its the perspective of a photographer but I’m not that interested in the nitty gritty. But other than that it was a nice story and a very quick read. A little too quick, the ending threw me a little, would’ve liked another clue or two. Definitely deep and worth your time!

I really really appreciate that the author cares for women and for more than just the skin on their chests!

Also check out Thom’s blog, it is edgy and intriguing!

 Trash on Amazon

Thom Simonson’s blog

Dr. Taeya Sanchez doesn’t think much of Rick DeAngelo at first. In fact he disgusts her. She works her ass off to continue to provide treatment to the ill in the only hospital operating in NYC. Since the pandemic H10N1 has mutated and resisted treatment for so long, it’s also one of the last on the East Coast. She fights to save it. He thinks he’s above the rest. He doesn’t bother to wear his uniform and he gets away with it, too. He’s a professional scavenger in the throes of the worst virus America has ever seen.

The New York Public Library has burned. Firetrucks never come since then. People die waiting in the long line outside of the hospital. Mobs loot and kill, burn what is left, while the rich hoard food and lock themselves inside their apartments. And he has the audacity to stare at her tits and insinuate that she’s part of a massive conspiracy to allow the masses to die off.

She’s going to need him though. Her husband, now passed away, always said she had a big mouth. In her efforts to speak against the Hospital Director’s idea of “treating the sick,” she gets herself in bigg trouble and needs a way out of the city. Guess who helps? Landing in a van together is certainly not what either of them would have planned.

I was really amazed by the research that went into this book. I’m not a doctor but I was impressed by Taeya’s medical point of view. She treats patients along her journey and explains the biological virus Korea has spread around the world. Incredible also were survival skills residents displayed after the electricity, water, and reliable food supplies ended.

This book has action, adventure, guns, wounds, science, fiction, a journey around the states, homebrew that’ll knock your socks off, a sack full of weed for trade and even a Biodome. I gave this a 4.5 for being nearly perfect.

H10N1 on Amazon

The Forever Girl has been on my to do read list for a month or so. I have about a million on there, so when something jumps out and says buy me buy me nowww!! It means something. I came across the book on a book blog, and was attracted to the cover and the trailer, which were very well produced. The main character, in an dramatic black outfit, had pretty cool style. I also was drawn to the main character Sophia, who in the free sample I read, turned out to be waitress ( a job I’ve just ended), Wiccan ( a spirituality that I am), and feisty when pressured to convert by random Christians (can relate). I didn’t know much about what would happen next, but it sure had a good start.

I had no idea what came next and so I am loath to ruin it for you. Needless to say, if you like magic, rituals, creative configurations of superhuman species, fire, history, and the like, you will like this book. Some of these themes are in my own manuscript, too, which was a cool surprise. I thought the writing was tight, the characters well thought out, the settings described wonderfully. Throughout the novel, sprinklings of elegant narrative grace the page, the moon above was stitched in the sky, a lusty mans ‘interest’ pressed against Sophia’s thigh. Yes, tell me more beautiful things please. Looking forward to book two!

THE FOREVER GIRL (an Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance Novel of the Occult) (Forever Girl Series #1) on Amazon

Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles series follows ex-lawyer and amateur sleuth China, who also happens to be an herbalist. The series has followed China through now twenty novels of murder mystery interwoven with excerpts from herbal books, recipes, and facts thrown into the mix. I love herbs, and so I love these books which keep me turning pages like a mad woman. You will tear through them in no time. I am in the middle of a six day work week myself, and finished the book by day four.

This book is a bit different from the others I have read in this series. In what is probably the beginning of a new pattern, Susan also writes from the perspective of Police Chief Shiela Dawson, known to China as “Tough Cookie.” I really enjoy Shiela’s character, and I think her by-the-book approach is a needed balance to China’s habits of investigation the old fashion way– by eavesdropping, trespassing, and generally getting her nose into other people’s business. Not that I don’t love her for it! Shiela gets a look that China has no access to in the police department, and other cases which may be related (hint hint), while China has the pulse of community gossip and the tack of a sharp ex-lawyer willing to take a few risks.

This book was an easy and delicious read. I enjoyed the new perspective of Shiela and the way it was alternated with China. I loved the theme of Cat’s Claw, and the occasional deep moments of both Shiela and China when it came to the thoughts on working a job where you have to get used to death and being outnumbered by men, the relationship between man and the wild, as well as an awareness through China’s eyes of how humans affect their environment with the growth of real estate into the Texas Hill Country.

Mmmm, yummy can’t wait for the next. In the meantime, I’ll be rereading the other nineteen in the series.

Cat’s Claw on Amazon

If you like puzzles or thrillers also check out my review for The Voynich Cypher

So, how was the Hunger Games? According to statistics about the past opening weekend, tickets resulted in $155 million in sales. So that’s pretty good, as it tripled Twilight’s first sales, and closely followed Harry Potter and Dark Knight.

I loved it. Yes, I’ve read all the books and yes it has minor changes like all books turned movies do. But this book was made to rock the screen. The reasons being that Suzanne Collins, the author worked for years in television, and that the book was probably made with the screen in mind. Her other works include my favorite Clarissa Explains it All (yes it was an amazing show wasn’t it?). You can tell her perspective from the behind the scenes look at the game-show crossed with reality TV Hunger Games Event, as well as the inside politics of the game-makers, stylists, and mentors. The movie is even more action packed than the book so even teens can tear themselves away from their cellphones to be fully engrossed in the two and a half hour movie.

The amazing costumes of the Capital are great: weird, colorful and an expression of a vapid populace. Effie Trinket, portrayed by Elizabeth Banks, was better than I could have ever imaged. She’s the one in the pink and purple hair and outfits. I loved the scene with Katniss and Peeta when they parade in their flaming costumes. I also loved that Lenny Kravitz played Cinna, I thought he gave the role an extra depth. Also I enjoy the contrast between Gail–who looks like the typical strong jawed teen hunk–and Peeta, who is sleek haired and looks more like the guy you would never realize has had a crush on you your whole life. Katniss herself is beautiful in a natural, dignified way, and an actress who got me crying more than one time. I was really impressed how mature her character was, and glad that held from the book.

Ok so what got cut? The books are written in first person from the perspective huntress Katniss Everdeen, and include her musings on her father’s death, her shaky relationship with her Mother, her opinions of the other residents in her district, her knowledge of woodland plants and animals, etc. etc. Needless to say, everything from her home is simplied, and the explanations of her father’s death are explicated in artsy flashbacks that wouldn’t make a lot of sense without reading the book.

President Snow is totally different from how I pictured him–he has white snow yes, but I pictured more of a creepy snake eyed man (maybe sort of Voldemort like). Donald Sutherland is great, he looks like a man I can trust, not one who freaks me out. And where is his rose? He is depicted in his rose garden in one scene, but the everpresent rose in his lapel is noticeably missing.
Even with these minor changes, I had a great time. I would recommend this movie to those who love the books and to those who’ve never read them alike.

I loved this book, I read it all week, unable and unwilling to do many banal tasks. It saw me at night and in the morning, at work and in my off time. Rarely do I come across a book that compels me like this, is satisfyingly easy to read and get through as well as being intelligent enough to keep my interest piqued in the world, characters and plot. You can tell immediately that even though this is a first book, it was written after a great deal of careful planning and world crafting.

This is a matriarchal society where men serve stronger females. Magic level is determined by jewel color, and one has the ability to level up to a higher color once reaching adulthood. For women this is the first time they have sex, where they can become more powerful with a trustworthy man, or be shattered and descend into madness with an untrustworthy one. This creates a balance between the sexes.

In the current world the natural order has been perverted. An evil queen has killed of powerful females and males who would be their rival. Powerful men are enslaved and forced to submit to humiliation, sexual servitude and even castration for her amusement. The only thing that can stop her is a more powerful Witch, but she hasn’t arrived for centuries and when she does, she’ll still have to survive until adulthood.

The book occurs in multiple levels, including a hell dimension with an overlord and daemon dead sortof like morally conscious vampires. There is also a race on the ground with wings, and one that is snakelike.

Daemon SaDiablo is the main male lead–an extremely powerful slave made to serve the queen and her legions for millennia. Somehow he had made rebellion an integral part of his personality and still strikes fear into the hearts of all, his nickname being “the Sadist.”

When a powerful witch is born, he could be her strongest ally or her worst enemy.

Read this book!! It blows all the others I’ve read recently away.

Daughter of the Blood (Black Jewels, Book 1) On Amazon

So looking to read something girly? One Pink Line is the chant of a college student waiting anxiously to know if she is– as she suspects–pregnant. And not with her boyfriend’s baby either, but the outcome of a drunken fraternity party. Whoops.. and for some reason, though no one supports her, she decides to keep it.

And as in every good chickflick–it has a happy ending! Cute as a newborn baby, and feel good, too.

An easy read though It’s not the shortest book, with a meaty middle, but the story touches your heart and encourages you to read more. Once you get deep enough into it, there become two stories, one from the future, alongside the preexisting storyline. I didn’t catch it right away so for a moment I was confused, but it gives you a sense of what is going to happen–that everything is going to be alright. I was still compelled to hear it for myself and read all the way to the end with as few breaks as possible!

See it on One Pink Line