Laume's Studio

Does everyone know about Bloglines? Bloglines (or other similar websites) is a service that lets you keep track of all the blogs you like to read. It also tells you when there are new posts on each blog which saves the time you would otherwise spend checking for them and being disappointed. Of course it also means I feel guilty when I see all those unread new posts on my blog roll. And after finding so many wonderful new bloggers during the Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun Halloween party, I've doubled the number of blogs I want to check regularly. On top of that, I don't even have all my old favorites listed there yet. I am overwhelmed with new blogs.

Not a bad thing. Just means I have to rethink how I visit. I used to try to visit daily or at least every day or so. But I noticed that others visit my blogs less often but read through a week's worth of posts at a time. I might do that. Or maybe as time goes on I'll just find myself drawn to a smaller number of favorites and let some blogs slip out of radar. I'm so afraid of missing something good! But honestly, there are thousands of blogs out there that I'd probably adore that I don't even know about yet. (yet - like I think I have the time and ability to someday find them all!) My point here is probably that as much as I love all my new blogging resources, I have to find a balance, just like I have to find a balance in the creative pursuits I want to do. I can't do them all. I have to choose.

Though that's not really what I wanted to talk about today. I brought up Bloglines because somewhere out there in Bloglandia (who started that term?) I've run across some folks doing a "Who is Your Muse?" posting project. I should find who and where and link to them. Maybe I'll stumble back over the sites in the next week or so and I can add the links then.

But for now, it got me thinking. Who is my muse lately?

The first thing I thought was - Nature. Nature is my muse. Mother earth in all her ragged, colorful, noisy, still, awe-inspiring, ephemeral, time enduring, delicate, pattern loving, chaos causing glory. So Gaia would be my muse.


But then what about the reflection of the sky off a towering wall of windows, and the curve of a perfectly carved wooden spoon, and crumbling gravestones, and the intricate pattern of words across a page? Human made things and the stories that are born and grow inside of them inspire me. These things are my muse as well.


In other words, everything and anything is my muse.

Not very helpful? Yeah. So then I thought - Who are my muses just at this particular moment in time? I don't have to commit to them for a lifetime of inspiration. Just narrow it down to what calls to me recently.

What about all those other art posting bloggers out there!? Since I've been finding so many new ideas and images online, I'd have to say that the blogging community is a current muse.

Travel. I'm grounded in my day to day life most of the time but all it takes is a photo or a smell or a memory and I'm floating again in a dream of faraway places.


In particular, Paris still calls to me. To me, Paris is creativity incarnate. It bathes one with images and stories.


I can't explain why. I loved all the new cities and towns we visited but, Paris resonates in a deeper, soul touching way. I know I'm not the only person that feels this way so I'm a little embarrassed at claiming it as my own. Right. Me and a million other people. Although I know that different places haunt other people. Some feel the same way about Italy. Or the desert. Or New York. Or the ocean. (I'm an ocean person too. If there's an ocean, I'm at home there.) I don't know. Maybe I lived there in a past life?