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You know the signs. You pick up a new book and find a clever plot idea.  You think that you should have thought of the idea. Or maybe you did have that idea, but you didn’t write the book.

Your muse has run away from home and gone to work for someone else. She’ll do that if she doesn’t feel nurtured. I suspect my muse moonlights for Nora Roberts, or sometimes for Julie Kenner. The slut isn’t picky. She’ll work for anyone who treats her right.

How can you nurture your muse and keep her from roaming?

There are a few simple techniques to get her to stay home and help with your latest project.

• Spend some time alone
  • Muses don’t thrive on noise, activity, and high energy.
• Take a walk
  • Get some fresh air while you spend some time alone with your thoughts.
• Relax and be still
  • Spend some time pampering yourself, and you’ll also be pampering your muse.
• Exercise
  • Get your body moving and your blood flowing. Activity wakes up your brain and your muse.
• Write
  • Nothing makes your muse happier than seeing you exercise creativity. If she doesn’t want to come home, show her you don’t need her.

Coax your muse home, so she can help you meet your goals for the new year. You can do it without her, but it’s so much easier if she cooperates.

Check out Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way for ways to nurture your muse. She shares some great tools including morning pages and artist’s dates.

What do you do to nurture your muse?

Write on,

Lynn Jordan