How I Developed my Intuition to Tap my Writing Muse
Writing fiction has always felt like magic to me—especially when I’m in the creative flow, and ideas are pouring through my brain faster than I can type. I’ve heard other writers describe this flood of imagination as the whispering of their “Writing Muse.”
But what exactly is a Writing Muse?
Back in the Dark Ages (before the Internet was invented,) I used to work as a writer in the marketing department of a hospital, where I developed seminars about mental health. One day, while I was eating lunch with a guest speaker, we got into a lively discussion about Creativity and Imagination – which eventually led to a juicy conversation about Psychic Phenomena.
“There’s nothing in the least bit strange about having a Writing Muse,” my lunch companion announced. “Imagination is closely connected to Intuition. Intuition results from the body-mind connection. Everybody is psychic.”
I choked on my mouthful of tuna salad. I mean, I grew up in a family of die-hard Science Fiction and Fantasy readers – but we were “too rational” to think, for a single second, that Psychic Phenomena could be real!
But there I was, sitting in the hospital cafeteria with a prominent psychotherapist, who was telling me to disregard all my linear, small-minded thinking. I figured the man had to know what he was talking about. After all, he was a licensed professional counselor in the state of Texas!
So I dared to admit, “I’ve always wanted to learn how to tap my Intuition – you know, whenever I want to. Is that possible?”
He shrugged. “Go to a bookstore. Buy an audiotape with exercises that will develop your Intuition.”
And I thought, The book store! Of course!
Needless to say, I practically flew to Barnes & Noble.
That decision to develop my Intuition saved my life. I’d only been practicing the exercises on my tape for seven days when my Intuition triggered. It warned me not to accompany an overly friendly, chatty man into the parking lot as I was leaving a restaurant. That man was later arrested for abducting women from shopping malls.
Since that fateful day, I’ve had all kinds of interesting adventures with my Intuition – many with no conscious foreknowledge of an event.
For instance, while writing my fourth award-winning historical Romance novel, Scoundrel for Hire, I realized that I needed to purchase a book of Shakespearean quotes for research purposes.
As I was driving down the freeway, my Intuition urged me to delay my trip to the mall and turn my car into a shopping center. After I parked, I discovered that a used book store had opened one week earlier in that shopping center. (I swear, I had no conscious knowledge of this opening!) I ventured inside, introduced myself to the owner, and told her my mission.
The owner said I was out of luck. “It’s finals week at the University of Texas,” she explained. “I sold my last book of Shakespearean quotes earlier this week.”
Even as she was apologizing, her hand was reaching behind her back and pulling a book off the shelf. (She DID NOT turn to face the stacks.) Suddenly, she was frowning and staring down at the volume, as if she had no conscious memory of reaching for it.
“That’s odd,” she said. “I could’ve sworn I sold this book of Shakespearean quotes yesterday.”
(Picture Adrienne humming the theme from the Twilight Zone.)
Another fun moment with my Intuition came as I was promoting my fifth award-winning historical Romance novel, Always Her Hero. A tiny voice whispered in my head, “This one’s going to be a hardback!” And I scoffed. “Yeah, right,” I told my Intuition. “There’s no way that Avon Books is going to print Always Her Hero in hardback.”
As it turned out, I was right. But so was my Intuition! Within three weeks, my Avon editor called me with the good news: Doubleday’s Book of the Month Club wanted to buy the rights to print Always Her Hero as a hardback!
(Note: For my Velvet Lies Series series of Western Historical Romances, Always Her Hero has been retitled His Wicked Dream.)
If you’re as fascinated by these topics as I am, visit the writing resources pages that I’ve created for Magic and the Paranormal, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Creativity and Writers Block. (These links will redirect you to my sister website, WritingNovelsThatSell.com)
