Artists have long spoken of “the Muse,” inspiration personified. According to Webster’s, the Muse was “any of the nine sister goddesses in Greek mythology presiding over song and poetry and the arts and sciences.” Well, you are not at the mercy of the Muse. Repeat this statement to yourself until you believe it. You are not an artist who is unable to work until Miss Muse appears with her charms. You are not an empty vessel waiting to be filled or an instrument in God’s hand waiting for the hand to do something.

You are a participant. Even when God performed miracles out in the Old Testament wilderness, God required that some human being do something, such as talk to a stubborn pharaoh or pick up a staff and start walking. Even when we are waiting for further instruction or for an idea to form more clearly, we are active in some way. Creative work requires that we do something, and keep doing it. It’s the doing that brings the results.

As a writer I know that nothing really happens until I write. Now I may write for hours or days before what I write turns into anything meaningful. But I have to write for all those hours in order to arrive at the hour in which the “inspired” writing happens.

– from “The Soul Tells a Story: Engaging Creativity with Spirituality in the Writing Life” by Vinita Hampton Wright Loyola Press