writing muse

“How Do I Connect with My Creative Muse?”

January 10, 2020 by Lisa Tener

Karin’s creative muse showed up as a bee

How to Connect with the Creative Muse

In many of my private consultations and classes, including “Writing in the Zone” and “Bring Your Book to Life(R),” I lead participants through a guided visualization to “Meet Your Creative Muse.”

What’s a Muse and Why Connect?

Think of your Muse as the creative aspect of yourself, that inner source of creativity that just “knows things.” Your Creative Muse knows from deep inside your heart and soul, beyond all the constraints and perceived limitations of the ego.

I love this work with the inner Muse. I especially enjoy it for its sometimes playful, sometimes surprising, always wise counsel.

After the guided visualization, people often share the clarity, insights and shifts that come from connecting with their Muse.

Symbol

The Creative Muse often gives us answers symbolically, including how it shows up (as animal, object or person, for example). Sometimes there are layers of meaning we can only appreciate when we sit quietly with the images awhile–or journal about them.

It was like that for Karin, who wrote,

Yes, I have a muse now (first one). It is a little yellow bumble bee. I was very annoyed at first to find a little yellow bee….not what I wanted or expected….but I remembered to suspend judgement and once I did everything shifted. Now I can see that my muse is totally perfect for me. Buzzing with creativity, stinging intention, adding sweetness to the world, flying solo but being deeply connected to community (so me)….”

Your Creative Muse doesn’t always show up the way you might expect or even want, but if you allow the wisdom of the Muse to rise up from within, you will probably soon enjoy the symbolism.

I know I felt disappointed when my Muse showed up as just light. I mean, how amorphous can you get? Couldn’t she show up as a fairy or angel or someone specific. But then I thought, “Light? That’s pretty cool.” And suddenly, it was.

My Muse has since shown up as a wise woman whose clothes sometimes whirl into mesmerizing patterns that take me to other dimensions—and she makes a mean bowl of alphabet soup—perfect for a writer, yes?

I Have a Muse. Now, What?

Karin brought up the other big questions that come from working with the Muse—in a nutshell: “Now What?”

“What do I do now that I have a muse?”

“How do I connect with my creative muse?”

“Should I connect just when I’m stuck?”

“What does my muse want me to know?”

“Are there any rituals for connecting?”

Firstly, I suggest your connect with your Muse every single time your write. It can be as simple as closing your eyes and taking a deep breath, or putting on your special writing sweater/jacket/hat/shoes/scarf/goggles.

Creating and Writing in the Zone: The TENER Method for Creative Flow

In a few week’s I’ll be sharing the most recent incarnation of my process for creating in a state of flow. Two of my clients have dubbed this “The TENER Method” for creative flow. It looks like that name is sticking.

Stay tuned for the exact elements you can use to create your own creativity ritual or writing ritual to consistently access a state of flow for all your creative endeavors.

You’ll learn to connect with your muse on demand and much more.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your experiences.

How do you connect with your Creative Muse?
How does your Muse show up for you?
What insights has your writing Muse provided about your writing, your book or other creative endeavors?
What challenges have you had with connecting with your writing Muse?

Share your experience!

Light a Candle for Your Inner Critic

February 5, 2019 by Lisa Tener

inspiration — Photo by Milan Popovic on Unsplash

Knock, knock; it’s your inner critic paying you a visit…

Yesterday, I had two phone calls from writers a bit panicked about the quality of their writing.

Jo was relieved when I told her that I enjoyed reading her rough draft and that it pulled me in and I wanted more.

Apparently, the previous editor she showed it to had told her something a lot less helpful.

The thing is, a first draft is not a polished piece. It’s our job as editors and writers to see the potential in a piece of writing, to sense what’s not there and needs to come out.

It’s not our job to tear down the writing. It’s our job to bring the beauty out.

Why does it hurt so much when an editor critiques?

There’s an aspect of us, the inner critic, that believes our writing is lousy and will never amount to anything better.

The more we fight the critic, the more power we give it.

candle writing muse — Photo by zae zhu on Unsplash

So, how do we overcome that inner critic? I had a bit of a brainstorm today and I have to admit, I fell in love with my own idea. I’m calling the exercise, “Light a Candle for Your Critic”

Light a candle for your inner critic and a candle for your inspiration or inner muse.
Your critic is there. Acknowledge it.
Notice you have at least two voices you can listen to—the inspiration or the critic. You get to choose.
Look at the candles and stare at the one that represents your muse. Draw inspiration from it.

It turned out she didn’t have two candles. “I’ll buy them today.”

“No, don’t put it off. Use two pencils, two anythings. You can do candles tomorrow. Just use two objects to represent inner critic and muse and then write.”

It isn’t about the candles. Any object will do. By just representing and acknowledging the two forces—movement forward and stuckness—you can create new movement.

Critic Kung Fu and Curiosity

writing — Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash

I suggested she be ready for the inner critic. Let its voice wash over her, without responding.

Remain in ready position, as if in a martial art.

Like in a martial art, there’s not a right way and a wrong way to write her chapter.

In readiness position, she can move with the energy from an intuitive place. Rather than forcing a move, she can let it choose her.

“Just write with curiosity. Play with it. See what works. Try one way and see if you like it. If not, try something else.”

Here are 5 tips for writing from your heart.

Where are you in your book writing process? Have you found a way to be with your inner critic without having it blindside you? What works for you? How do you engage your writing muse? Share your insights or questions as a comment below.

What Does Your Creative Muse Say About Your Book?

December 11, 2017 by Lisa Tener

creative writing muse — Meet Your Muse and Get Re-Inspired

I thought I knew what book she “should” write before we consulted her creative muse.

I was wrong.

It happens.

And that’s why I love my process for helping new authors clarify their book concept: they look within for their final answers.

consulting creative muse — Here’s another book whose author got clarity by consulting her creative muse.

Your Book Concept: The Whats of Your Book

What do I mean by book concept? Think of it as the “whats” of your book:

What’s your vision for what your book will accomplish in the world, in your readers’ lives and in your own life?
What’s your book about?
Who’s it for? (Or what’s the target market if you want to be a stickler about the “whats”?)
What features do you want to include?
What content do you plan for it?
What fits and what should you save for an in depth course or private consulting or the next book?
What’s the structure of your book?
What method of publishing do you choose?

I like to have clients determine the whats well before writing. You’ll save much time and heartache by doing this kind of planning first.

And so, these are the questions we tackle during the book concept consultation.

The Creative Muse Process

We start with your vision and work from there. I share what I know about the publishing industry and help an author evaluate whether to plan on self publishing or whether their book is a likely candidate for traditional publishing (and what it would take to get there).

We brainstorm ideas to make the book fresh and resonant for the target audience. We get creative.

As we go, we make a list of questions for the author’s creative muse—her creative source, her highest guidance, her inner knowing.

At that point, I guide the author in my favorite exercise, which I call, “Meet Your Muse.”

I asked the author to ask her creative muse to, “Show me my readers.”

These readers were younger than we expected. They were a completely different market from that of the primary book she planned to write. And the content was completely different as well!

creative writing muse as hawk — Your muse may be a totem animal, wise being or just a felt sense of connecting with something greater than yourself.

Yet, her muse remained firm. “These are your people.”

So we went with it and she got more clarity on the content, title, motivations and even her big picture business plan. WOW.

A few times she said, “I think…” and I knew she was back in her head and it wasn’t her creative muse speaking. We returned to the muse and got a consistent and inspiring message.

When I asked her how it felt to see herself making this her primary focus she said, “Light. It feels right.”

What would your creative muse say about your book idea? You can find out by trying the free guided visualization for writers here.

What Does Your Muse Want You to Know About Writing a Book?

November 28, 2016 by Lisa Tener

Writing a Book: Your Muse Can Help

As you think about writing your book, have you consulted your inner muse for clarity?

I spoke with many aspiring authors this past weekend and guided them through my “meet your muse” visualization for them to get clarity about their books and the best way to get them written:

“Is it time to write my book?”
“Is this the right book?”
“Do I have what it takes to write my book?”
“Is Bring Your Book to Life® the best fit as a program or path to get my book written?”
“How do I find the money to pay for the book writing program?”

It’s a fun and inspiring process to facilitate and to witness.

I love how the inner muse knows just what you need. Here are some of the responses we got from people’s muses:

“If you want to write this book, you’d better make it fun. Add humor so you and your readers feel light, encouraged and happy.”
“Write the book while you teach it as a program, so you can bring in income and also get great ideas for the book!”
“Trust.”
“Heavens, no. Not now. You have too much on your plate. Once you finish these other projects you can work on the book.”
“Show me some commitment first. Work on your book idea for a few hours this weekend. If you do that, you can take the program.”
“You need to create an inspiring space to write.”

Do any of these messages resonate for you? Do you wonder what your muse would say about your book, the timing, your ability to write it, whether one of my programs could be a great vehicle to get it written?

You can set up a free exploratory call here. Or try connecting with your muse on your own with this free guided visualization. And please comment below: Share what guidance your muse provided, as well as any insights, inspiration or shifts in perspective you got from the visualization exercise. Or share an exercise you use to connect with your creative source.