Big thank you to C.S. Boyack for being a guest on my blog.  Anyone who has ventured to his blog (listed at bottom of post) has seem him talk about his muse, Lorelei.  I’ve asked if she can make an appearance and talk about how they met and the challenges of working with an author.  Now, Lorelei is a Greek Muse from Olympus. She is brunette, athletic, and beautiful like a goddess should be. She’s built like an Olympic diver. She tends to teach Craig things.  So let’s meet a muse.

I’ve been asked to tell you about the care and nurturing of an author. The best way is to give you a bit of history between Craig and I.

I observed him for years, because he was always a creative fellow. He had a vivid imagination, and the Muses were getting desperate. The 1980s was a time of remaking everything; movies, movies from old television shows, sequels that didn’t bring anything new, even old songs were being remade. We needed fresh ideas, and I may have jumped the gun a bit.

I pulled on some bright spandex, proofed my hair up until it was huge, and pulled on a pair of those old-style roller skates; before the inline kind were invented. Craig had been working 16 hour shifts, six days per week that summer. He was a draftsman, and the computer was about to replace his profession. His company purchased a new word processor. This program came on two floppy disks and there was just enough room on the hard drive to save one document.

Craig had to learn to use the computer to print all the lettering onto clear stickers to place on his maps. He was out in the shade while the machine printed some document. Things were slower back then. I skated up and struck a pose to attract his attention. It wasn’t hard.

We chatted and I convinced him to write some fiction. It was bad Star Trek fiction, and he never actually completed a project. He didn’t stand a chance with me, but there were other girls around, and he only had so many available hours. The project was a failure.

I didn’t check in with him again until about 2007. He’d just gotten his first iPad and had conquered the Internet. It was winter and he was unlikely to go outside much. He’d gotten married and had three children. My timing was perfect.

I convinced him to try again, and the mature Craig was a finisher. It was bad, but at least I had a starting place.

We talked about the basics and his work slowly improved. I gave him ideas and he managed to complete the projects.

Craig’s mind is a little bit different. Sometimes my vision isn’t what gets on the page, but I’ve learned to roll with it. Once I described a cute fawn playing in a forest. Craig must have heard “faun”, which is a different creature. He wrote about a hideous goat demon called El Chivato who spirited people away from the Panama Canal.

I took him to the author’s bone yard one day. We walked along the red brick road, and discovered the discards of other authors. We spoke to the head left there by Washington Irving, and had to hide from a man-eating woodpecker left there by Peter Benchley.

Craig got the idea that some ideas need modification. Some things get discarded along the way. Not every creation is golden, and it takes work to get them right. That weekend I gave him a raven from Olympus. The bird’s name is Doubt, and he induces second thoughts about Craig’s work. Craig has proven himself capable of overcoming Doubt, but he still needs the power he brings.

Now he’s working on short fiction. I give him ideas, and his capabilities won’t let everything work at novel length. The ideas are getting used, and short fiction is a time honored creative process.

Nurturing an author takes baby steps. It’s taken years, but Craig has produced some good stories. He gets all hissy over publishing them, but I don’t care if he ever does. It’s the creativity that I’m looking for. It feeds me, and I take care of him in return.

***

Craig’s newest book is called Will O’ the Wisp. It’s a paranormal story that is safe for young adults. It includes a strong coming of age story, and is set in the 1970s.

Blurb:

There is something evil up Bergamot Holler, and it’s been targeting the Hall family for generations.

Patty Hall is fifteen years old. She loves stargazing, science fiction, and all things related to space exploration. This leaves her perfectly prepared for the wrong problem.

Patty fears her mother will send her to a care facility if she tells her what she’s seen. If she doesn’t figure things out soon, she’s going to join her father in the Hall family cemetery plot.

Patty has to come to grips with her own physical handicap, survive the wilderness, and face an ancient evil all alone if she’s going to survive.

Purchase links:

Author Links

Follow my blog: http://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com

Check out my novels here: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00ILXBXUY

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Virgilante

On Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9841203.C_S_Boyack