The Write Path 27: The Muse and Me

by Vanessa Woolley

Do you ever have the feeling that you are being watched? That someone, or something is looking at you? I get that feeling a lot, but don’t worry, I am not being pursued by a murderer or a spy, it’s just my writing muse.

The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of the muse is – “a person or personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.”

What can a muse mean for a writer? Is it a view from a window? A conversation overheard on a bus? A slip of a memory from your past? The soft light of sunrise? The frantic pulse of a city street? A song on the radio? All of these places, these scenes with their scents and their sounds are visceral, are real, along with the memories we collect on the way, the sepia toned images of our lives. The muse helps you find the idea, gives you inspiration, a gently guiding hand towards a story.

There’s also a second factor that I find invaluable as a writer: being a reader too. For me, the writing experience was (and still is) closely linked to my reading life. As a child and teenager, I read as widely as I could, visiting the library on a weekly basis. Buying a book in those days (I know it makes me sound old, but then I am 61!) was expensive so the library came into its own, a safe and comforting place for a voracious reader.

I began writing stories early on, usually about girls off on big adventures, often with animals in tow. I was inspired by the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder and by the Narnia stories. One of my all-time, favourite scenes is from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where the four Pevensie children have tea with Mr and Mrs Beaver in their dam. There is something so comforting and mouth-watering about the description of the cosy meal they shared that I could read it now and still feel the tingle of magic the words bring. And that’s what writing is all about. Finding the perfect words so that the readers can be immersed in the scene alongside the characters.

Inevitably as a teenager my writing changed, as did my reading choices. I was catapulted into the world of the Bronte’s moors, brooding scenery, creepy houses with dark secrets. I wrote a lot of poetry during this time too, mainly about saving the planet and all the big emotions that came with growing up. Like falling in love and teenage angst.

I studied English Literature at university, the perfect degree for a bookworm. There were books I loved and books I didn’t but the opportunity to analyse and discuss the author’s viewpoint with like-minded people was an important aspect for me as a writer today.

Fast forward to my thirties and forties and I continued to read. But my life was busy. Work, children and everything in between meant my writing was limited to short stories and the odd poem. I took short writing courses and found a local writer’s group, but it was only when my youngest child was sixteen that I decided I was ready to invest more in my writing.

In 2016, I completed the Write Better course at the Faber Academy in London. This weekly in person programme gave me the confidence to explore my ideas and to receive (and give) peer reviews. It was a great foundation for my writing. It was around this time that I began to write my first book and discovered that for me, nothing quite beats the breadth of writing a novel. This draft may be still in my ‘writer’s drawer’ but it was the one I cut my teeth on. Who knows, maybe I will get it out one day and reprise it?

I joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) around this time and met with authors from local chapters. I enrolled in the RNA’s fantastic New Writer’s Scheme which enabled me to send a completed manuscript for review by a volunteer published author. The feedback I received during my time as a member of this scheme was invaluable and inevitably led to me sending my first novel, ‘Secrets in Sunset’ out for submission. The book was published in July 2025 and I was thrilled to be a finalist for the RNA’s Joan Hessayon Award that year.

Now, with one book out, and book one of a two book series currently going through editing, I look back on the last year with joy and trepidation. It’s been a rollercoaster, from the initial elation of publication to anxiety about what readers will think, to questioning my writing, to the sheer happiness of seeing book reviewers praise my story. I’ve the run the whole gamut of author emotions! Never has the term ‘imposter syndrome’ been so apparent.

However, I know I have joined the very elite group of fantastic authors out there who all suffer the same crippling writer anxiety that comes with the territory. I feel comforted by this, empowered to keep writing and to allow the muse to tap me on my shoulder whenever it wants even if the story doesn’t make it onto the published page.

‘Secrets at Sunset’ was the result of an experience in Africa that left me with a profound desire to not only tell a story but to give it impact. My current work in progress is based on a true story, the initial idea sparked by a fifty word news article. A reminder of the muse making itself known.

As long as I have inspiration and stories to tell, carved out of my own thoughts, I will be one happy writer. Thank you muse.