5 Interesting Links for 02-19-2016

Agriculture (Archeology)

The discovery of an 800-year-old cache of seeds brings an extinct squash back to life and shows the Native Americans understood seed storage very well.
http://www.cfweradio.ca/on-air/blogs/dustin-mcgladrey-351668/entry/471/

Shelters (Cats)

A wonderful example of some of the things shelters can do to help cats stay calm and happy in the less than ideal situation of a shelter so they can find homes where they will belong. (Via Facebook)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shelter-cats-obstacle-course_560d50a6e4b076812700f51d

Discovery (History)

A lovely porcelain fashion merchant gives a glimpse into the mundane aspects of the 1700s.
http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-miniature-18thc-fashion-merchant-in.html

Groceries (Life)

A look at the logic of buying bulk, both when it’s smart and when it’s not worth your while. (Via @momsconfession on Twitter)
http://premeditatedleftovers.com/deals-money-saving-tips/the-dos-and-donts-of-buying-in-bulk/

Muse (Writing)

I disagree with pretty much everything in this article…for my case. However, if you do treat your muse the way she describes, using it as a barrier between you and writing or an excuse, then everything she says is spot on. Give it a read to make sure you’re not in possession of a muse that needs to be cut loose:
http://savvyauthors.com/blog/index.php/kill-your-muse-and-move-on-by-sarah-madison/

A Country Masquerade by Margaret McGaffey Fisk

This entry was posted in Anthropology, History, Interesting Links, Kids and Cats, Life, Writing. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to 5 Interesting Links for 02-19-2016

  1. Linda says:

    I also disagree with what the writer said in the article about your muse, or Muse, whichever. Your muse is not external to yourself. I think of it as that part that sends the awesomely weird stuff, like once describing a very awful bad guy as “Santa Claus”, which was perfect for the story. But it made my conscious mind very uncomfortable. Without that inner muse, ideas like that would never come. I’d push them away due to the uncomfortable nature of them. I think of her as being about 4, only because small children are so totally open to interesting and creative ideas. They don’t hold back or censor themselves. I know what she looks like because when I think about her, my imagination always conjures up the same image. Does she mess up my writing? Nope. I couldn’t write, do art, or any of my other creative activities without her.

    However, I do agree with her that blaming your muse because you’re not doing your creative work or you don’t focus on one project long enough to finish it or you don’t like the way it’s turning out or whatever is totally silly. That’s simply a way to avoid taking responsibility. And until you take responsibility, you’re doomed to fail in whatever you want to do.

    • Margaret McGaffey Fisk says:

      I see this more as the equivalent of outlining. It’s a difference in root definition. The premise in the article is that people treat their muses as separate, as something outside them like the Greek muses who would visit artists to inspire. You and I name our subconscious as a muse, understanding that it can touch parts of our understanding and awareness the conscious mind suppresses for convenience or out of fear.

      I do differ in whether what you characterize as an “internal muse” can be an obstruction, though. There are a million ways my muse can disrupt my productivity, usually because she’s off on another tangent once I’ve accepted the reality of the first. Of course, she’s also the first to bring me those moments of clarity, so I counsel patience when I can and only rarely enforce the conscious mind’s ability to focus and concentrate against her distractions. Usually, I can get her to walk the path with me as I work.

      • Linda says:

        Maybe it’s that my internal muse doesn’t obstruct me. My muse is perfectly happy to work on whatever project I’m doing as long as I respect the tangents and random unrelated thoughts. I do that by making notes about them so they won’t be forgotten. Once I jot that stuff down, I have no problem getting back to the original project. I must have instinctively come to that agreement with myself because I don’t remember a time when my muse stopped me from working on whatever I wanted to work on in order to pursue something else. So, the issue you brought up never occurred to me.

        • Margaret McGaffey Fisk says:

          Count yourself VERY lucky :). If I worked faster, my muse would be easier to appease, but she loves to move on to the next item whether I make notes or not. The sad part is I’ll never have enough time to get back to all the ideas she’s given me over the years, and some of them were pretty solid.

          The worst thing I ever did was when she was flooding me with too many ideas to keep track of, I told her I’d ask when I needed one. She shut up for a couple of years…giving me time to work through some of the backlog, sure, but bringing on the terror of running out of ideas that has never left even though we made up a long time ago, and I certainly have not run out of ideas :p.

Share Your Thoughts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.