The Bruised Muse

A quick heads-up for anyone thinking of mailing something to me via the postal service, UPS, FedEx or any other snail mail avenue: for the time being, please don't. The service that provided the mail-drop I've been using suddenly went out of business, and I am still in the process of making new arrangements. Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause.



This is a peek at bluebird babies batch #2, as the parents of the quadruplets born back in April came back to nest again in the same house. This time they had triplets (at least I think there are three; I'm only seeing a trio of little faces whenever I take pictures.)

I'm impressed by this species, which is not only way fertile but very focused on care giving. Both parents go back and forth all day every day to the nest to bring bugs, check on the youngsters and clean the nest (in my opinion you have not lived until you've watched a father bluebird fly off with a big white pellet of baby bird poop in his beak.)

This is the first deadline week I've had all year where I haven't felt as if I'm trying to keep up with the bluebirds. In part the extra work I did in April and May is responsible for unloading a lot off my schedule, but I'm also making a renewed effort to simplify as much as possible, not sweat the small stuff, etc. It does make a difference in my attitude every time I go to work, although I could use a couple days off to recharge the batteries.

Until I have the chance for some downtime, I've grabbed my first edition copy of Judy Reeves's The Writer's Book of Days to re-read a little each morning. This book always sprinkles a little writing fairy dust on my muse when it's bruised. I know the minute I stomp this final spring deadline I am also heading for the sewing machine, too. I am in great need of doing some serious needlework.

How do you deal with a bruised muse? Got a secret source of writing fairy dust you want to share? Let us know in comments.