About Me:

My name is Tara Wright.  My stories have appeared in Zyzzyva, Zoetrope: All Story Extra, Missouri Review and Rosebud.  My story “You and Your Baby” is to be anthologized in the collection Vicarious Motherhood.  I’m the recipient of several prizes and currently have a short short, “Sugar Packets” on NPR as part of their Three-Minute Fiction contest.  A portion was read on All Things Considered. I am at work on a novel.  Write me at taratara at musekiller dot com.

About the Muse Killer:

I may not look like the guy on the home page, but I can sympathize with the expression on his face.  He’s stuck.  Just like us.

I’ve been a writer for years.  I write short fiction, and am at work on a novel.  I’ve been published in lit mags, won a couple contests and am now struggling through a novel, my first.  I will do anything to write.  I will do anything to NOT write.  I get stuck.  But I believe the best thing to do when you’re trying to get your novel done, your eBook done, your short story, your poem, your memoir, your article, is to just keep writing.  Someone once said to me, “You’ll have a much better chance of getting your novel published if you finish it.

What I’ve discovered is that the muse is an elusive creature.  She is like that girlfriend (or boyfriend) you had in college.  You remember the one.  Hot and cold.  You’d date for a while and everything would be great.  You’d be happy, productive, drunk on possibility.  And then, something would change.  She’d stop calling.  Or she’d make excuses why she couldn’t see you.  When you sought her out she’d be aloof, dismissive, apathetic.  And what happened then?

I’m here to tell you, you don’t need a muse.  You’ve been in a codependant relationship with the muse for far too long.  She was the cause of your writer’s block, your excuses, your inertia, your roller coaster ride of productivity – when she bothers to show up it’s great, when she doesn’t, you smoked too much in coffee shops and told friends you were waiting for the muse to return.  Again.

What you’ll find:

• Where to send your work:  resources, contests, agents, literary magazine
• Where to practice your craft:  Fictionaut, forums, Zoetrops, Fellowships, Writer’s retreats
• Prompts for when you are stuck
• Methods to keep you moving.
• Weekly challenges