#MUSE MONDAY

"Muse Monday"

By Alice M. Batzel

One of my favorite Facebook pages that I follow is devoted to female author entrepreneurs. That page often posts photos with captions to motivate our writing, and I frequently find it to be beneficial. However, today's picture and caption of "#Muse Monday" didn't bring me the inspiration for which I had hoped. I found myself saying, "Really?" You see, it was squashed for me today. This particular Monday was a bust. Forget about diving into my writing project. All the creative impulses that I planned to awaken in my writer's office were shot, killed, extinguished, and exterminated. I had no choice. I had to surrender to an unwelcome chain of events.

I awoke to our home security system repairman at our door. When he left three hours later, we were minus a considerable amount of money to update our security/fire alarm system. I thought I was going to be getting a new mattress this fall. Instead, we've invested in a more secure home. Don't misunderstand. I'm thankful for a safer home, but my senior citizen back arthritis and hip bursitis are longing to replace our twenty-year-old mattress. I need to experience deep sleeping. Alas, if anything remotely similar to a light sleep occurs, any number of security issues can now abruptly awaken me with a shrieking alarm. Imagine my emotions if I discover the intruder only to be a disoriented moth flying in front of an interior home motion sensor.

Just so you know, if you see me around town and you notice that I'm stooped over and limping, you'll know that the old mattress still resides in our home. But whatever you do, don't ask how the home security system is working. I suspect it'll be a sore subject for some time, but not as much as my bodily joints or my attitude.

Definition: muse (noun) inspiration, genius, creativity, talent.

Definition: muse (verb) ponder, mull over, brood, deliberate.

OK, I'm seriously brooding. I guess I've experienced "#Muse Monday" after all. But I'm not happy about it, and it certainly wasn't what I had hoped it would be. I'll get over it. After all, I'm a writer, I can turn the page. I take solace in the words of Margaret Mitchell's heroine, Scarlett O'Hara, "Tomorrow is another day."

(photo source: The Facebook page of Authentic Women Author Entrepreneurs

(Scarlett O'Hara quote from Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell)

Beach Writer in the Rocky Mountains