Interviews with The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard)

Interview with Marge

Muse of 'Okay-now-let's-get-started'

By Molly Anderson-Childers & Jill Badonsky

All good things must come to an end…this is the final interview in my series of 10 interviews with Jill Badonsky’s Nine Modern-Day Muses (and a Bodyguard). It’s been an amazing (and a-musing) journey. I’ve learned a lot, and grown creative wings in brightly painted wings to soar among the clouds.

This interview series has, I believed, truly helped me to make the leap from day-job to dream job. Yes, I quit! I made the leap! I am now working as a freelance writer, creativity consultant, and professional blogger. Dreams do come true…with a little help from your Muses!

Q: Tell us Marge, how were you chosen as one of the nine upgrades?

A: In 1996, the Muses went to see the movie Fargo, in which an unflappable sheriff named Marge Gundersen resolves the gnarly crimes that happen in North Dakota despite her challenges of pregnancy, snow, dense deputies and an uncooperative car salesman. Marge’s no nonsense Midwestern attitude gets the job started, and without moodiness, complaints or drama, gets the job done. The Muses feel they ended up going to that movie because the Marge character was a good inspiration for a Muse.

Q: Marge, how can your no-nonsense inspirational style help artists navigate the swamps of procrastination?

A: The modern day mortal is constantly caught in crimes of the creative process: procrastination and avoidance. My approach is definitive but nonjudgmental. Quit giving into feelings. If you just do things when you FEEL like it, nothing will get done. Action begets inspiration. If you have fears, moods, insecurities, distractions, habits, addictions, over-responsibility, or the illusion of not having enough time, respond as I do. Say, “Thanks a bunch for sharing, but I’ve got a date with my creativity. So, I appreciate the offer, but I’m gonna have to turn you down.” Take action. Do not look back. Do not dust the top of your refrigerator. You are here for a divinely creative plan.

There are oodles of things that can steal you from creative expression and yet, you can choose to engage in your creative passion. The discipline to engage in your passions can be made easy with routine, reasonable goals, small steps and focus. The result is that the magnificence you are meant to create and the joy you were meant to experience comes to life.

Q: What is your favorite way to motivate a creatively stuck mortal?

A: According to 11 out of 10 Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaches, my idea of taking really small steps, is a resounding success in the realm of unstucking. The trick is to remember that the steps don't stay small. They are easy, and take only five to fifteen minutes, so you get started, and then momentum builds. Five minutes three times a week gets someone a lot further than an hour that never gets done because it's too overwhelming. Taking small steps makes creating a habit easier, and a habit makes the getting started part comfortable.

Q: Do you ever have days when you want to slack off, put all of your projects on hold, and just relax? How do you fight the urge to snooze away the hot summer days in a hammock, sipping umbrella drinks and reading trashy novels? (That seems to be the only thing I want to do this summer…)

A: Maybe that's what you need. Go back two spaces, and hang with the Muse, Lull. Breaks are important. However, if you truly have a desire to use summer for creative endeavors, there are a number of ways to make it summer-fied and easy. While you're in the hammock, engage in creative foreplay…play with ideas about your next step in your head. Ask yourself small questions like, "What would be fun to do with this idea?" "How can I make this different?" "What quality would I like to feel as I engage in this activity? Mischievousness? Lightness? Discovery?" Questions and directed daydreaming are vital and valid aspects of the creative process.

Q: Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, when I think of all the things I need to do to make my creative dreams real. In working with other writers, I have found that this is a common experience. I know you can help — what’s your best advice for making a mountain look like a molehill?

A: Break the steps down so small that the next step is so easy you can't not do it. Starting is often the hardest part and just getting engaged can be the hurdle that leads to the flow. Lowered expectations, and telling the self, “I don't have to do this perfectly, in fact I think I'll start off purposely with no expectations at all or with wild abandon,” dissolves some of the overwhelm.

Mortals have a tendency to make small steps too big even when they are asked to break things down to tiny weeny steps…so exaggerate the way you break things down. I love Eric Maisel's advice to turn and face the desk as your first step in writing. You all can do that even as you read this. It counts.

Q: Can you discuss the importance of regular, disciplined work towards creative goals, and how this can impact the lives of creative folks who feel they’re too busy to write, paint, sing, or play the guitar?

A: Creating a habit is often more important than the talent itself. With a habit, regular practice and participation creates quality. Showing up over and over makes not showing up feel awkward…this is desired. Showing up to your creative work could become as automatic and mindless as brushing your teeth.

Remembering that your creative talent is one of your higher purposes, and one of the blessed reasons why you are here, may help you make it more of a priority. Some mortals feel more pressure with that thought so, just showing up and engaging is the important part. Ask yourself: What has worked in the past? How can I lower the pressure I put on myself? Apply the memory of a creative flow's bliss to the present and have it entice you into action.

Q: How can we mortals break the procrastination habit and replace it with something healthier and juicier?

A: Creative individuals are often rebellious and frequently resistant against even their own to-do list.

Two suggestions:

1. Write on your to-do list: Clean the fridge, watch reruns of Two and a Half Men…and then REBEL, sneak away, and have an affair with your art, your writing, your orchid garden.
   
   
2. Make your To-do list an "I-Get-To-Do" list and notice the shift from dread to eagerness.

Q: What’s your favorite way to spoil yourself after a hard day’s work?

A: A good book, a cup of tea, and a breeze.

Q: Any last words of inspiration and motivation for our readers?

A: This quote, from my friend Igor Stravinsky:
“Just as appetite comes by eating so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning.”

And, from Bob Moawad:
"You can't make footprints in the sands of time if you're sitting on your butt, and who wants to make butt-prints in the sands of time?”

You can keep hip on all the Muse Happenings at Jill’s website, www.themuseisin.com. A million thanks to Jill and the Muses for all their inspirational encourage-mints! •

© 2010 Molly Anderson-Childers and Jill Badonsky. All rights reserved.

About the Author | More by Molly Anderson-Childers
Molly Anderson-Childers is a writer, artist, and creativity consultant living in Durango, Colorado. She's published work locally, nationally, and online and welcomes inquiries about freelance writing assignments. Learn more about Molly at her blogs: stealingplums.blogspot.com and addictivefiction.blogspot.com.

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