When the Muse Strikes

How often have we heard the phrase "when the muse strikes" or "when creativity strikes"?  It sounds like a grand thing, ideas just start flowing and we tap into that inspiration and creativity.


Alas, I have the other kind of muse strike.  One where she says "I'm refusing to come in to work today".  I thought I treated her pretty well, but apparently not enough for her to want to keep working with me. So, I'll admit it...


I haven't been writing.  I'm waiting for her to get out of her surly rebellion and inspire me.  So I decided this morning to do a little bit of research on her.  How do other writers and artists feel about her and the creative process?  Basically I learned that artists categorize the muse in two ways:


1)  The Muse Strikes and You Must Use That Inspiration Before You Lose it:

• I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.  ~Michelangelo
• But I can only write what the muse allows me to write. I cannot choose, I can only do what I am given.
  ~Ian Hamilton Finlay

This is what I want!  Come back to me Muse! 

2) The Muse is Lazy and You Must Put in the Effort to Get Him/Her Going:

•  You can't wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.  ~Jack London
• Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long
  To speak of that which gives thee all thy might? ~William Shakespeare
• Sometimes imagination pounces; mostly it sleeps soundly in the corner, purring.  ~Terri Guillemets
• There is a muse but he is not going to come fluttering into writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer station. He lives in the ground. He is a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretend to ignore you… He may not be much to look at that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist (what I get out of mine is mostly surly grunts, unless he is on duty), but he’s got the inspiration. ~Stephen King
• One reason I don't suffer Writer's Block is that I don't wait on the muse, I summon it at need.~Piers Anthony
  
  

Fine.  I get it.  I have to write even if she is on holiday. Maybe she'll get jealous of all the fun I'm having without her and join in the writing fun.  Off I go to dust off the manuscript and write again.

How do you feel about the muse?  What do you call him/her?  

What helps you when your muse is being lazy?