How do you reclaim your muse?

I see you know my ex girlfriend.

“How do you come back from one of these spells?”

By staying away from her.

Meditation.
Walks in the park.
Looking at the stars.
Reading.

Drinking usually does it for me.~

This book may or may not help, but it will surely give you a chuckle.

Get involved in a hopeless relationship. Muses are always attracted to suffering.

Uhhmmm…. Here’s a crazy thought, maybe by not calling your muse a flighty bitch!
Could be she takes flight whenever she disrespected.

Or you can realizing you need to be with someone you respect more.

Fall in love. The deep subtext of love is about creativity—literally about making life. Love tends to make you feel on top of the world, full of ideas. And of course, your beloved becomes your muse. You are inspired by them, and thus even more attracted to them.

If you’re involved with someone, you can fall in love with them again. You can also fall in love with some imaginary character in your mind and let them inspire you. It’s all good.

Well, @chyna beat me to it. I good binge over a long weekend (followed by a week of recovery) is usually enough to snap me out of pretty much any funk.

Try these:

- Do something related but technical. e.g., sketching – which just requires you to be present and observant. Or translate your favourite works, if you know another language. Something that forces you to be deeply observant about your craft but without the burden of “creating”.

- Read/watch interviews with some of your favourite artists. Charlie Rose is a good source. The Paris Review also has an extensive archive. I dunno, reading about the process of people always makes me feel like creating.

-Find a buddy to challenge you. For example, “Today we’ll have a competition to take as many interesting photos of blue objects as we can.”

@Pandora We have a really rough relationship. She tends to leave when I need her the most, so I’ve developed some resentment toward her.

@wundayatta @Blueroses I’m in a steady relationship right now. Maybe some romance or sexy times will help.

Great answers guys. :)

I really like @lifeflame‘s suggestions. I just heard an interview with a guitarist from one of those bands I used to live for, but now can’t remember their name. Brain is going severely mushy. Anyhow….

He had a new project and used a lot of various improvisation techniques. He’d get people involved in various styles that they drew from a bowl, only they couldn’t tell the other musicians their style, they just had to work with each other. The idea is to get opposing ideas going and then see how you can resolve it.

I’m not clear on your metier, although I suspect it is writing. In any case, I’m sure you can come up with exercises for yourself. I don’t know if you have a project going, or if you need a new one, but there are lots of things to mine. You could assign yourself to write an in depth description of every friend you have. You could then randomly mix them up, and try to combine two people into one.

You could look through your house for any number of objects and then write down how they came into your life and what they mean to you, and who was involved with it when they came into your life.

You could randomly pick a fluther question, and write an answer exactly opposite to either what the questioner wants or to what you believe. For extra credit, you could try to post the answer and see if you can get it past the moderators.

Games. Invent games. Bring other people in—that helps. Force yourself to put strange things together. That forces you to unlock the creativity. Unless you are so bored of it you really shouldn’t be doing it anyway.

So, that’s the nutty idea for the day.

You can buy yourself one in most urban areas. Heehee…really. Pick some unsuspecting soul who needs a hand up and invest in her…help her blossom and poof….new muse. She doesn’t have to be a lover….she can just be a flight of fancy….an investment in building beauty.
Of course I’m available for musedome between 2 and 7 Monday through Friday. You muse me and I’ll muse you….so long as it doesn’t conflict with my own artwork. hahahaha

Maybe you should call yourself “Musebird” instead of “Joybird.” Hmmmm?

@wundayatta hahaha…musebird…sounds like something that poops musinex…I only splat joy!

Well then, lay somma dat joy on me, sistuh! I’ma standin in the sun, waiting to be annointed with the spirit of joy within!