Tuesday, February 22, 2011

My Muse has ADHD

Some authors can actually visualize their Muses: male, female, short, tall—all that good stuff.  I can’t.  My muse is a dark silhouette that dashes around the labyrinth of my mind and shifts shape and form constantly.  I’m fine with that, as long as it guides me straight, it can be a crow for all I care. 

So, a little while back a friend gave me the good advice of settling on 20 stories out of the hundreds I’ve started and dedicate myself to those 20.  Those 20 will be the ones I fight alongside until the end (publication, hopefully).  The list turned out to be 22 (including 2 manuscripts I’d already completed minus editing) and today it hit 23.  Why?  Because my Muse is ADHD.  Really. 

Most people can focus on one story and dedicate themselves to it….much like a relationship.  Not me.  Usually I’m continuously working on at least three with several on the back burner (I’m very committed in relationships though—I would never cheat).  Today, my Muse (maybe I’ll call it Crow) flew to an old story idea—one that I started, got several pages in, built a rough skeleton outline, and then left.  Well, now, not only have I been thinking about that story all day, and hearing the hero's voice in my head commanding an introduction with the heroine who escaped him, but I’ve got characters and a skeletal storyline for book 2.  Really?  Really?!  As if I don’t have enough characters in my mental army.  22—23 stories, each with a minimum of 2 characters (math is not my strong suit—bear with me!) puts me with about 46 made up people marching through my mind more or less on a daily basis. 

I may go insane before the end. 

Writing Tools, Galore

I don't exactly have my ear to the ground about anything.  I'm a junior in college, I'm trying to juggle writing, classes, working.  I'm an editor on my school's literary journal, I've been researching a summer writing institute that's oddly named after my MC (a sign??), picking workshops for NH Writers' Day....I've been crazy busy.  But on top of all of that, I've also been trying to pick back up on Twitter, Blogging (I started an account with Tumblr) and I'm told to check out WordPress.

Here's the thing.  As soon as I start again, I get overwhelmed.  There are so many links, so many suggestions, and I know I can't just pick one thing and stick with that--one isn't enough.  I need a better balance.  Blog daily, blog often.  Tweet multiple times through the day.  Check these sites out.  Write. 

Obviously these are all invaluable tools in the writing industry.  But I don't know how to use most of them.  Writing is like war, I can't stop, I have to keep moving forward, even when I feel like I'm just flailing through it. 

Anyone feel like sharing what works for them?