Is your muse like my muse?

What is your muse like?  Do they show up when you least expect it? Unannounced, like a relative or friend that barges in when you've got a ton of other things to do?

Or do they sometimes whisper so softly that it's hard to hear them?

Have they ever take a vacation and forget to tell you they're going?

Mine–and I love him or her–does all of the above.  But the thing that really blows me away is that sometimes mine can be a bit show-off-y. You might wonder what I'm talking about here. So I've got to tell you this one story.

I mentioned in an earlier post, right here,  about two times my muse has shown me something through music.  This story is about the second time.  I'll save the first time for later.

So, a few months back, I was working on  my novel, Dolphin Girl, and I was thinking about how a theme in the book dealt with her being tugged on by an undertow or pulled along by a current beyond her control.  While I was thinking, a song came on the radio, an old song that I hadn't heard in a long time.  "Numb" by Linkin' Park.  Do you know the song?

Anyway, the lyrics "under the surface" and "caught in the undertow" along with some others really hooked my imagination.  This song completely summed up exactly how Jane, the main character, was feeling! I couldn't remember ever seeing the video, so I wrote Numb on a slip of paper and set it aside to look up the video later.

Fast forward a couple of days, maybe a week, and I find the paper–LOL, yeah, that's how I roll with my muse–and decide to watch the video.  Can you say creeped out?  I'm embedding the video below so you can watch it, but I'll just mention that in the book Jane is an artist who has always her sketch pad with her.  The relationship with her mother is stifling and she's got some issues with cliques at school. Beyond that, there are a few other doozies that are eerily, eerily similar. I literally shivered when I watched this video.  'Cause my muse was showing off, that's why.   So, if you're maybe a little curious about the book or about the song, here it is.  Oh, one more thing, if you know my writing, pay attention to her first sketch.  No, it's not a dolphin, but you'll see. Shiver.  See?  Show off.