Tuesday, January 27, 2009

On the Title of My Blog

Some of my best ideas come to me in the shower. Maybe that's because the steady stream of water has awakened my brain before I am required to put it to good use. This morning the title of my blog presented itself to me, and I am now riding on its momentum to create my first post. What does it all mean?

Musing: n. contemplation, reflection. Origin: 1300–50; ME musen to mutter, gaze meditatively on, be astonished (Dictionary.com Unabridged v 1.1. Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc., 2006).

But as a writer and a word monger, I also like the the reference to the word muse: n. the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.

The third half refers to my stage of life. It is obviously fractional nonsense if you are a mathematical purist. I requisitioned it from "Click" and "Clack," the Car Talk brothers, who refer to the "third half" of their show. But life does not divide up into neat fractions. I see the third half of life as a second chance, as a time for possible reinvention and reformation. As a writer, my novels (still in progress, but stay tuned) focus around issues of identity over the life course, and so it seems appropriate to explore some of these in an interactive format (should I be so lucky as to attract any readers....). And of course, that some of my musings may be nonsense goes without saying.

2 comments:

  1. Great title, Belle! Send us more of your musings, especially about the process of writing.

    Burns Woodward

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  2. mm, lovely title. So you're going to be your readers' muse as well as musing yourself?

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