by Sangeetha Narayan

Created on: January 25, 2008   Last Updated: December 13, 2011

Hello, Muse Calling!

I sat in front of my computer, a very determined look in my face. One way or the other, I will be writing something, anything! I looked at the blank screen on the computer, talking to myself, "Come on Priya, you can do it. You're a writer. Just type something."

So, I typed, "Priya Priya has writer's block." I stared at the sentence and thought, "That can't be right! I've just started writing! How does anybody get writer's block, when they have hardly written anything?"

I shouted out loud in frustration, "Oh muse, where are you?" And that's when it happened, the unthinkable! I heard a voice, "You don't have writer's block! You just have a hearing block."

Now, did I say, I heard a voice? That isn't necessarily true. It was more like, it came from inside me, but it wasn't my voice. Does that even make sense to you? I guess not. I did what any sane person would do. I ignored it! I took out my notebook and pen and decided to stare at a blank paper.

Then I heard it again, "You can't avoid me. I'm inside you."

Now, I was pretty scared, "Who is this? Where are you?"

I heard a sigh, "I just told you, I'm inside you. I'm your muse! You called me, didn't you?"

"Inside me?" I squeaked in a daze. "Why can't I see you?"

There came the sigh again, "Boy, you are really having an off day today, aren't you?"

I was getting irritated by that attitude, "You think?" I spoke in the most sarcastic voice humanly possible. "First, I can't think of anything to write. Now, I'm hearing voices from my muse! Now I know what nervous breakdown feels like!"

I heard a shrill giggle. Again, it came from inside me, but I wasn't laughing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. Please don't faint. Don't ask how many people have done that. I've lost count!"

"If you're my muse, why can't I see you?" I demanded.

"Here we go again," the voice said. "I don't have a form, not something you can see with your naked eye. I exist in your subconscious. Try to remember all the books that you've read, shows you've watched, and people you've talked to. They are all stored in your subconscious and that's me!"
"Oh, so you're the nagging voice that I keep hearing, write about this or read about that." The tube light turned on, my mind said Eureka.

"Exactly! Not bad." My muse sounded pretty please.

Then a nagging doubt entered my mind. "So are you telling me, all those sentences and story ideas that I think are mine, are actually yours?"

"Of course not!" The muse sounded angry. "You've created them,

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