The Muse

The Muses were the Greek goddesses of the arts and sciences; you can read about them here: Wikipedia - Muses. In particular, the Muses were associated with the singing of songs and what we would, today, call literature. The opening words of Homer's epic Iliad invoke the Muse: μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ, O Goddess (θεὰ), sing (ἄειδε) about the anger (μῆνιν) of Achilles...

Even today, the idea of the "Muse" who inspires you as a writer is alive and well! I found this quote from the great novelist Isabel Allende (author of The House of the Spirits) via Chitra Divakaruni's Twitter stream (she is the author of Palace of Illusions which is on the book list for Indian Epics):

Show up, show up, show up,

and after a while the Muse shows up, too.

— Isabel Allende

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