“The  muse is not with me today,” a man I worked for used to say. He was a writer, a good one, too. But he spent most of his days puffing cigarettes, his fingers yellow with nicotine, his feet up on his desk.

(Yes, Virginia, there was a day when people smoked at work.)

Waiting for the muse to strike is a tricky thing. It’s true that there are days when we just can’t access inspiration.  But when days turn into weeks and weeks into months and nothing has happened, well, we’re no longer waiting for the muse. We’ve shut the door and we’re actively avoiding her.

The muse is more likely to come knocking when we’re already doing something. Productivity breeds productivity.

As the great Pablo Picasso knew.

Photo credit

This is the photograph of a man actively inviting the muse into his life.