Writing cabins in the woods... seeking out the Muse with his burnt stogie and little bag of dust.

My writing cabin in the woods... newbie author by the word-processor stood... watched the cool story idea floating by, then knocking at my door. "Breathe life into me," he said....

I like Stephen King's version of the Muse... his inspiration for some of his best ideas. He describes him as a big, rough-cut, lumberjack-looking guy with a stogie popping out of one side of his mouth... and bag a magic dust.

I just pulled his quote off of Goodreads (no guarantee it's perfectly accurate):

“There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of 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 it’s 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 inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the mid-night 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.”

Not that I'm a fan of King's novels... the horror genre isn't my thing.  But I respect his insight into writing a great deal.  The man has done some SERIOUS listening to the Muse.