#2017WritingGoals: Finding and Feeding the Muse (Zen in the Art of Writing) | #amwriting

The fact is simple enough. Through a lifetime, by ingesting food and water, we build cells, we grow, we become larger and more substantial. That which was not, is. The process is understandable. It can be viewed only at intervals along the way. We know it is happening, but we don’t know quite how or why.

Similarly, in a lifetime, we stuff ourselves with sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and textures of people, animals, landscapes, events, large and small. We stuff ourselves with these impressions and experiences and our reaction to them. Into our subconscious go not only factual data but reactive data, our movement toward or away from the sensed events.

These are the stuffs, the foods, on which The Muse grows. This is the storehouse, the file, to which we must return every waking hour to check reality against memory, and in sleep to check memory against memory, which means ghost against ghost, in order to exorcise them, if necessary.

Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing, p. 35

1. In what ways can I deliberately feed my Muse in order to work toward my 2017 Writing Goals today?
2. How can I make myself aware and available for the impressions and experiences and my reactions to them as I go through my day?
3. What is my plan for today so that I can be deliberate, take responsibility, and be successful?

1. What did I do today that was a deliberate attempt to reach my short-term and long-term 2017 Writing Goals?
2. What are the specific impressions, experiences, and reactions that happened to me today with which I can feed my Muse?
3. Did I stick to my plan for today? If not, what can I do tomorrow in order to be successful in meeting my plans and goals?

Bradbury, Ray. Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius within You. Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press, 1990. 35. Print.