Two days ago, I passed the half-way point to a 50K first draft. I head into a busy week, ending in a 3-day conference, with little time for writing. So, with but 6 hours left of today, I’m hoping my muse is sympathetic.

Speaking of muses: on the subway today, I sat across from a young woman who was singing at full volume into her phone. It took me a few moments to realize that she was recording herself, most likely in the process of composing a song, whose verses she kept singing again and again, adding multi-layered tracks to a simple melody. What initially was annoying (because she distracted me from my reading) turned into something fascinating. How could she concentrate on music in one of the noisiest environments in NYC? How could she compose while people were watching?

But when the muse speaks, the artist cannot feign deafness.