Well, it was last year. He gave a reading and lecture at the Chicago Public Library. Really great time. I stood in line with the rest of the kids (and a number of adults, we're talking heady themes in these books. Milton, anyone?)
So anyway, my turn finally comes and I ask his handler, the person who stands there all day and takes books and opens them to the appropriate page, if he would sign my notebook. She says Sure.
So I ask Mr. Pullman, who looks like a very wise owl, if he would give me a few words of inspiration for when the muse is being fickle. He paused for a moment (he may have hooted like an owl, I don't remember) and then, with a very fancy pen wrote: When those moments come, remember that it is our job to write just as well and just as regularly when we're not inspired as when we are.
I now have that quote as my wallpaper, and believe me, I look to it for inspiration every day.
He also said his daemon is a magpie--going around picking up bits of stuff and using them in his fiction. What's your animal muse?
9 comments:
Phillip Pullman's creativity is completely astounding. I envy you for getting this little inspirational tidbit from his pen.
No muse for me, though. I just put my butt in the chair and try to stay off the internet. That's how books get written 'round here.
What a treasure! And such an important message...
Thanks for sharing!
Ah, we grovel at the feet of the master. Pullman is astounding. And it's comforting to realize he isn't always inspired, but just has to "do the work".
My daemon? I think it's still shifting..right now it's somewhere between a sloth and a grumpy old cat.
Lol, Michele, a sloth and a grumpy old cat. Brilliant, and oh how I can relate.
Yes, BPV the "Internets" can be quite a distraction when it comes to doing the work. I suffer the same fate.
Nice to see you again Charmalot.
I LOVE Pullman. Wow. What an absolutely cool thing to have!
My daemon: dormouse.
My muse? It's kinda like a gremlin, only it's fluffy and day-glo colored. I dunno what it's called, but now I want to write a book about it. ;)
Sadly, I'm not kidding about that last sentence.
Pullman is awesome! I wanted to go see him when he was in Chicago last year, but other kid stuff got in the way. :(
I don't have a muse, but I took one of those silly online quizzes that says my daemon is a really big cat. Cute, cuddly, independent, really loud purr, and you better high-tail it if he ever gets mad. Hmm, what does that say about me? :)
Mine would have to be a pomeranian. Fastidious, vain, sometimes quite affectionate, spoiled, usually able to finagle the front seat of a car. Yeah, that about sums up myself, er, my muse.
And that's on my good days :-)
Different animal muses/totems, depending:
Dragon (definitely a muse)
Owl
Skunk
Fox
Panther (with me since I was a little girl)
Post a Comment