(IN THE PHOTO WITH ME:Eileen on the left, and Julie in the middle.)
On Tuesday, one of my dearest friends, the author Julie Valerie, was in Napa, indulging in one her goals: the sommelier certification.
Last year she'd already passed the first four tests with flying colors. This time, it was to take on the next two portions of the test. Her study habits would impress any university professor. (By the way, she teaches on that level as well, so no wonder!) Not only that, her other successful endeavors were hiking the Appalachian Trail, raising four accomplished kids, and working on her third novel.
Julie and I met up at the home of our mutual friend, novelist Eileen Goudge, who hosted us to a wonderful meal: tasty, original, and healthy, too. Also a master baker, Eileen's book, Something Warm from the Oven, is a must-have.
Compared to these two ladies, I'm a slacker!
(The butt-shaped sway on the left side of my couch confirms it.)
At one point, a discussion about the amount of time devoted to writing came up. Eileen mentioned that before becoming a published author, she loved to paint as well as bake and write. However, the author teaching her writing course left her with this valuable insight:
“You can court many muses, but you can marry only one.”
This was his way of reminding his class of aspiring authors that a diversion from your writing is necessary to feed your muse. However, if writing isn't a passion—if it isn't your greatest passion—it's okay to recognize your writing for what it is:
a hobby.
For those who see it as both their vocation and avocation, it is what drives us.
It fulfills us.
Of course, real life will always divert this focus, as it should. Family, friends, illness, financial set-backs, and world events are facts of life.
But those with a passion to write will always do so, no matter what.
A great example is Ernest Hemingway. During his lifetime, this Nobel Prize-winning author published fifteen works; everything from short-story or poetry collections (such as In Our Time) to novellas (Torrents of Spring; Men without Women) non-fiction (Death in the Afternoon), and full novels. (The Sun Also Rises; A Farewell to Arms; To Have or Have Not; The Old Man and the Sea, to name a few.)
Beyond feeding his muse, the man kept busy with other endeavors, and other people. He was a journalist and a war correspondent, a hunter, and a world traveler. He'd been married four times, and he had three children. He counted Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Walsh among his friends.
Despite his prodigious output of the written word, Hemingway lived a full life.
I guess it boils down to this:
everyone's process is different.
Hemingway found his muse in Paris, Spain, and the Florida Keys. Mine sits beside me on my couch. Granted, on several occasions, I've convinced her to join me on a few worldly adventures which have certainly inspired my writing.
As a reader, you've seen some of these jaunts incorporated in Donna Stone Craig's far-flung adventures. You've also seen them in any books set in San Francisco.
So, go ahead: find your muse.
But also find time for the rest of the things that make you happy, too.
