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The Antimuse

All creative people know the antimuse intimately. Writer's block, lack of motivation, ennui, fear of failure, laziness; whatever it can do to stop someone working it will do.

I see many posts online complaining of the effect the antimuse is having on someone's work. Posts seeking support, ideas, or even just validation. The antimuse revels in this. It loves to engage with the antimuses of others. Suggestions such as "go for a walk", "do something else", "clean your studio", "sort out your brushes", and other ways to validate not actually working, and the antimuse has everything it could ask for. The antimuse wants you to fail. It wants you to live a life unremarkable, achieving nothing. The antimuse would love nothing more than for you to sit back and watch life go by on the TV as everything that makes you 'you' withers away. The antimuse is evil.

There is only one way to deal with the antimuse. Stop whinging about it and ignore it. We all have the antimuse, but the successful people are those that keep it firmly in the box where it belongs. The only cure for the antimuse is self discipline. If you can just make that start, you'll shortly find yourself back in the swing.

Tell the antimuse to shut the hell up and get back to work.

You've got this.

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