Invoking The Muse

I've been reading and hearing about Steven Pressfield's The War of Art, that I figured perhaps the Universe was trying to give me a hint.


After all, I have been struggling with finishing Curse of the Fey (new job with long hours, a constantly changing schedule, new living environment, and lack of sleep have made me an easy prey to what Pressfield calls the Resistance satan), and in desperate need of inspiration (or what an old teacher of mine would have called a "severe kick to the butt").


So I'll probably post a few interesting bits (though the book is full of them) over the uncoming days, so that I can easily find them again and perhaps share these inspirational or thought-provoking items with anyone else who may be in need like me.

The first one comes from Homer's Odyssey, and is this great storyteller's Invocation of the Muse, one that Pressfield apparently recites every day to start his writerly ritual (gotta get in that groove--anything to get your ass in the chair and get writing, or whatever project you want to accomplish):

O Divine Poesy

Goddess-daughter of Zeus

Sustain for me

This song of the various-minded man

Who after he had plundered

The innermost citadel of hallowed Troy

Was made to stray grievously

About the coasts of men

The sport of their customs good or bad

While his heart

Through all the sea-faring

Ached in an agony to redeem himself

And bring his company safe home.

Vain hope--for them

For his fellows he strove in vain

Their own witlessness cast them away

The Fools

To destroy for meat

The oxen of the most exalted sun

Wherefore the sun-god blotted out

The day of their return.

Make the tale live for us

In all its many bearings

O Muse