Moore Muse

"I guess," said Zoe.  She wished she could think of a joke, something slow and deliberate with the end in sight.  She thought about gorillas, how when they had been kept too long alone in cages they would smack each other on the head instead of mating.

-Lorrie Moore, "You're Ugly, Too"

*
"But if you don't want to work your ass off, you have no bussiness trying to right well--settle back  into competency and be grateful that you have even that much to fall back on. There is a muse, but he's not going to come fluttering down into your writing room scattering creative fairy-dust over your typewriter or computer station. He lives in the ground. He's 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 pretends to ignore you. Do you think this is fair? I think it's fair.  He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist, but he's got the inspiration. It's right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There's stuff in there that can change your life.

"Believe me, I know."

-Stephen King, "On Writing"

 

*
His eyes lit up. He wanted to talk about love. " But I keep thinking love should be like a tree. You look at trees and they've got bumps and scars from tumors, infestations, what have you, but they're still growing. Despite the bumps and bruises, they're--straight."

-Lorrie Moore, "You're Ugly, Too"