Writer! Never Wait for the Muse
Could be; ‘writer's block’ is just a comfort zone
“Don’t wait for ideas, or muse, or whatever they call it, to come”. This sub-heading to an article titled: My best productivity tips by Nigerian writer, Bamidele Onibalusi, still reverberates as I write this piece. Hear him: “…relying on muse, inspiration, ideas, or whatever else they call it can be highly impractical. It is mostly an excuse lazy writers use to comfort themselves. Muse, or inspiration, in the way most writers view it, is a myth.’’
Agreed, Bami!
I’ve been there. And I know that waiting for a muse, waiting for inspiration, procrastination, laziness; are in a sense, bedfellows–and amount to not taking action.
Now let me walk you down memory lane; shall we?
Taking my first steps into writing, I won an ‘honorable mention’ in a national writing competition at age twenty-two and while a student at the teacher training college, the only young person in a field of seasoned awardees comprising a university lecturer wielding a PhD, a supreme court judge, and others with such frightening credentials. I presented a collection of three short stories, all of which I virtually wrote off the cuff and sent by post two days before the deadline. I was lucky it reached the submissions desk on the final day.
It all got to my head, probably. Buoyant and confident after that award, I believed writing success would follow as a matter of course. Somehow I got it into my head that the proverbial writing muse had visited me — that it is only in those moments of inspiration (my perfectionist self made me believe) that your best writing springs forth. While this may hold some truth, the years rolled by and those ideas and creations of mine for the most part neither appeared on paper, nor screen.
The years flew past and I also gained a PhD in Procrastination and another in Waiting for Muses. I clothed myself in excuses like ‘there’s not enough time to write’ and kept kidding myself I had to wait for when the time felt right; to wait for some inspiration to kick me out of my slumber. It was Bamidele’s article that got me thinking. It opened my eyes to the fact that you cannot walk into Writing-Success-City without actually getting into the habit of writing.
Today, three decades on and now staring down the barrel of retirement, I have no option but to quit waiting, and Bamidele’s words keep ministering to me most profoundly–and remain a stark reminder.
Not waiting for the muse means viewing writing as a profession, albeit a second job. I write as soon as I get out of bed, and in the morning before setting off for work. I write on some weekends. See; I’m on the final draft of this article on a Sunday morning, before leaving home for church.
By simply taking action, I have cultivated a daily writing habit. In the last three years, I have completed four short stories–and counting.
Now, permit me to be the minister.
When that God-forsaken demon of procrastination comes knocking, urging you to wait for some phony phantom they call muse, don’t wait. Even when you think your writing looks and sounds terrible, just keep on writing, and let’s call it your first draft. Time for editing, time for revision.
For every emerging writer, here’s my advice: obey this simple commandment. Don’t wait for the muse!
I just obeyed it.
