Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Nothing Evil to Report

Today is my day to report what I've learned/done as it pertains to submissions and stuff to the Evil Editor blog. Only I do not have anything. I've been caught up in other things and havn't submitted anything. There was an assignment, but I didn't participate. The comic muse was visiting others this week, and these types of assignments are generally meant in fun. I believe there were eight submissions, and those were fun. If you are interested, visit the blog http://evileditor.blogspot.com/. Look for Space Quest.

I write a lot about the muses coming to visit. They visit often, although they don't always stay long. Sometimes it's only long enough to say hello, and then they are on their way again. Some times it's just the one. Some times I get a whole crowd. Then it's wild.

According to Wikipedia, there are nine (9):
Calliope chief muse / muse of epic or heroic poetry
Clio muse of history (an excellent guest)
Erato muse of love and erotic poetry (she's been here)
Euterpe muse of music and lyric poetry
Melpomene muse of tragedy (she visits most)
Polyhymnia muse of sacred song and oratory
Terpsichore muse of choral song and dance
Thalia muse of comedy and bucolic poetry (she's really fun)
Urania muse of astronomy (she helped me make The Great Sea)

There are references to a "Tenth Muse", beginning with the poet Sappho of Lesbos, who was called the Tenth Muse by Plato, and continuing to Shakespeare and Mark Twain, who referred to a lie as the tenth muse in "On the Decay of the Art of Lying".

That there is disagreement on who the Tenth Muse is, and what she inspires, tells me there are likely a heck of a lot more than ten. Most of them have been to visit me at least once. Some come less often than others. My favorites tend to be of two main kinds: those who love fun and silliness without regard to how a thing is done, as long as it is done with laughter; and those who inspire epic creativity, as needed in world building and character development. I don't call them by their names. I just call them my friends. They have always helped me through my bad times.

If they have any shortcoming it is this: they can only inspire. They cannot do the work for me. Neither can they impart the talent. The work I must do - but they help by filling me with desire. The talent I must acquire - but they help by guiding my way. They are sent of God to help me develop the talents he imparted to me. I would like to use those talents to make others happy. I wonder if I can.

3 comments:

Anna Claire said...

Not sure how I feel about muses, but you should definitely pick up a copy of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice! It's probably the easiest read of all her books, and you might be familiar with the plot already.

Oh, and Marianne Dashwood is fiery and passionate, so it's good to be her ;)

Bevie said...

I'll give it a go.

Oh. I haven't read Silas Marner either. Supposedly everyone in my generation had to read it in school, but I was in a small school in the country. We were lucky the local general store had comics.

Thanks for visiting.

Bevie said...

Oh, AC.

Don't the muses shake you. I'm not completely off. Not yet. smiles