The Font and The Muse

I read Stephen King's On Writing and found it to be quite an interesting and useful book. King not only chronicled his writing career from the early days, but he gives a lot of practical advice to aspiring writers on many aspects of writing, editing and publishing.

No matter what you think of Stephen King and his books (and many "serious" writers dismiss his efforts, unfortunately), his thoughts on his muse is quiet different. In On Writing, King describes his muse as a guy, not a woman as thought of typically - a big, rough character to boot, certainly not very refined.

I doubt I'll ever be able to personify, even for creative purposes, my muse. Where does one get ideas on which to write? Fortunately, I'm blessed with a good imagination and have the potential to be prolific - not great, mind you, but voluminous. So, for me, my creative spark isn't at the behest of some sentient being. Rather, I look at it like an overflowing font … a wellspring of creativity that I hope translates accurately from brain to pen.

Therefore, in that mindset, I give you this week's progress report, gentle reader.

I have one more draft to edit for my fourth short story, "Animal Control." I'm a little more nervous about trotting this one out because it's quite different than the first three and if it "works," then I'll have my first recurring character for other short stories or even novels. In fact, I like her - Lucinda Dreyer - so much, I'm making her one of the main characters in short story #5, tentatively entitled "On A Gelding's Trail."

The other good news to share … I finished act II of my second screenplay, A Perfect Tenant. I'm quite pleased with the way it's progressing thus far, but I KNOW it's going to be too long and will need to be trimmed. My first screenplay, The Rebound Guy (now called Ricochet Man, for reasons explained in past posts), came out to be the right length when I completed the first draft. That was a different situation … the font was overflowing when I wrote that one (from idea to first draft was three weeks).

I just joined EditRed.com, a site for writers to post their work and get feedback. I decided to post "Monument" as my first offering for public comment and shortly after posting it, I got a very nice compliment from one of the members. Poetry - I didn't know I had it in me - but now I'm encouraged to explore that area further.

MySpace has provided a wealth of author contacts, some of whom have been regular correspondents already. I recommend to anyone who is aspiring to be a writer to take the opportunity to use vehicles like MySpace and EditRed to get out there, get your creations read by others and network with people sharing the same personal journey that you're experiencing.

I wish you all the best in your pursuits, whatever they may be. Keep striving!

Michael