Your Muse Wants You to Write from Your Heart
Today’s post was inspired during our “Get Your Writing Done” session a few weeks ago. I’d offered that if anyone ever needs a little private laser coaching, they can request to do a short breakout group on our Zoom calls during the writing portion of the call.
Michael Neuert, a writer in the class who is an intuitive counselor, took me up on the offer with the challenge that he feels like he’s writing lots of little bits but is not clear on what his book is yet. Earlier, his muse had said to write, and it will come, but now it feels like he’s still circling, and not clear where this book is going or whether he’s even making headway on an actual book.
While the snippets he shared in class are powerful, a book indeed needs some structure, and it’s helpful to be clear where you are going. So, we asked his creative muse for guidance.
The muse began, “Write from your heart. There is a distraction to writing in circles/ hovering as a result and completing a book.”
Note: Below, you’ll see distinctions between Michael speaking and Michael speaking in the voice of his muse – they are both Michael but two different parts!
Michael’s Muse on Writing from Your Heart
I suggested he ask, “How do I write from my heart?”
The muse (as reported by Michael): Write what you’re feeling to write rather than what you think you should write.
Michael: Something about my mind gets too involved in figuring things out.
Muse: You don’t need to know what it is. Be in your heart every time you sit down to write. Let go of the habit of your mind processing and labeling your writing or ideas as good or bad.
Michael: She’s saying there’s something there that comes more from my heart than my mind.
My mind goes crazy with that. What would these next 28 minutes be? That’s what I don’t know. That’s what she’s saying — discover.
How? Sit quiet. Just start writing and tuning into my body rather than tuning into my mind.
Michael continued: Now the dream I had makes even more sense. It’s almost like, write! It’s like there’s something formed. I don’t know what it is yet. My mind, trying to figure it out, is a little bit ahead of myself.
When Fear Gets in the Way
Lisa: Do you feel like you know what to do?
Michael: I’m afraid.
Muse: I know. Just practice it. Just try it.
Michael: I have a little bit of sense of it. It’s taking me more into right-brain worlds than my usual left-brain worlds.
Muse: Trust. Just do it—a sense of something that’s a center. You have something to say, and it’s your job; it’s just different from what you currently imagine.
Michael: I think I get to practice.
Lisa: Do you accept this mission from your muse?
Michael: That’s a great question – parts of me don’t. My muse says, “Take my hand.” She’s seeing the places I need to go, which are frightening to me, more real places.
She says that’s okay. I’m here. Take my hand.
It’s like going downstairs into a basement when we usually live on the upper levels. My mind’s trying to make logical sense of it all. I have an image that is almost like going into the basement and writing down there.
Lisa: Would it be helpful to do that physically?
Michael: I don’t have a basement!
Two Weeks Later
When Michael checked in during a private breakout session on our Get Your Writing Done session two weeks later, he shared that he was getting more clarity about bringing together his material into a cohesive concept by working on titles.
Now the challenge was his list of a dozen possible titles with slightly different takes on the subject. He intuited that it was important to identify the title and angle before structuring the book.
How to do that? I suggested that Michael could try this exercise that I made up on the spot:
- Write each title on separate pieces of paper and hang them on the walls around the room (or use a clothesline and hang each title up on the line).
- Walk around the room and read each title aloud. Which ones do you feel drawn to? Where do you spend the most time as you stand in front of the titles?
- You can also ask, “Is this an optimal title?” or “Is this a title that will attract my core readers?” See if you lean forward or backward or neutral when you finish asking the question. If the answer is yes, you’ll lean forward, and if no, you’ll find yourself leaning backward. This works for many people but not everyone. Another option is to use muscle testing or even dowsing. These are all methods that bypass the more controlling aspects of the mind to tap into one’s intuitive knowing.
For some people, I suggest going to their community of future readers and asking for feedback (one of my other clients is doing that right now). But in this case, my sense was that this would be premature. It seemed like Michael’s process required more time to work with the ideas without input from external sources.
A few weeks after that, Michael reported that one title stuck out as the one. And the other titles seemed to be possible chapter titles. He began to write more material centered around some of the titles and that opened something up.
Some of my takeaways:
- The back and forth of left and right brain-oriented processes
- It’s okay to feel afraid; be with your feelings.
- The need to let go and stop judging.
- The role of trust—one step at a time and over time the process and content both become clearer.
What are your takeaways?
