I Don't Have a Muse; I Have a Deadline.

Writers talk about their muses a lot. They get writer's block, idea block, colon block. Never mind, that one is from not exercising and only eating ramen noodles. Blogs, tweets, and Facebook statues often have "I'm so blocked" as statues.

Are they really "blocked" or are they just not wanting to write? Is it that they don't know how to fix a scene, so they are calling it blocked? Are they just out of the habit of writing? Are they just whining? Have they just not suffered enough yet for their art?

I used to always have writer's block. Boo hoo, my muse isn't talking to me. Then, I decided I needed to sit my butt in a chair and write, regardless if I wanted to or not. And guess what? I never got writer's block again. Oh, sure, I didn't want to write, I got burned out, I was too sick to write, the kids were making too much noise, my office smelled like cat pee and I couldn't write until I figured out where the smell was coming from…but none of those were about writer's block and my muse. They were all about me.

Working with deadlines really brought a whole new level of professionalism to my work. Once, I got an assignment at 4pm for two 1000 word articles for 7am the next morning. Why? Because a writer couldn't get her articles done on time ("She was feeling blocked by the topic"), so the editor called me. I wrote those two articles, complete with research, primary sources, expert blurbs, and several side bars along with the main articles. I made a nice $380 for that. The blocked writer? She lost a writing gig and, more important, a loss in reputation.

Heaven knows I don't feel like writing most days. I don't know if I even love writing; I just know I really hate everything else. I do know I love finishing projects, and I love starting them. It's the inbetween phase that I don't like. It's a lot of hard work.

I don't have a muse. I have a deadline and it is a lot less temperamental and a lot more professional.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have 8,000 words to write by Friday.

ETA: I changed the post title [image error]