Inspiration. Some days it actually shows up.

The writer's life. It's not exactly what I envisioned it to be. On the days that inspiration actually shows up, I'll get three or four ideas for articles. Some days an idea or two for the next chapter of my novel will pop in my head. Or maybe a whole poem will suddenly start unfolding in my brain, and the next thing I know I'm scrambling for pen and paper, struggling to write as fast as my thoughts. Most of the time I don't lose the material. Some days I just can't write fast enough. Evidently my muse, Melpomene, is camping out in the back yard and I just didn't know it on those days.

Then there are days that there's just nothing there. I'll do my morning pages, hoping to shake something loose. The amount of time it takes me to fill those three pages of longhand lets me know if I'm going to have a productive day or not. I finally give up, and look out the sliding-glass door to see an abandoned campsite, with Melpomene nowhere to be found. Oh, well. I guess it just turned into a research day. Maybe tomorrow...