Don't fight the muse

If there's anything I've learned in some 35-plus years of writing, it's that I should try my best not to fight the muse if and when it shows up to inspire some piece of a project.

Lately, though, I wish it could be better at timing itself.

Although just a ghost in the mist had started to form itself in my head last Tuesday while in D.C. regarding the topic, theme and setting for my next play, it actually began to jell right in the middle of watching a fine first preview of a brand new play at Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Md. last Wednesday night. Why? I have no idea. But we certainly enjoyed "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," based on a book of the same name -- yet I walked out of it able to articulate to my wife how I saw the next play shaping up. It's hard to maintain full attention to "A" when your head is also shaping up "B" at the same time.

So though I have done a little bit of thinking on that play since last Wednesday, it wasn't until we were in the final half-hour of "The Night of the Iguana" at Triad Stage on Saturday night that one complete line that will fit into the new play popped into my head. I then had to fight between watching the play and not forgetting the line until the play ended and I could get back to the car, find a notepad and write down the line. I really, really didn't want to lose it.

So it's upbeat that I'm getting inspiration at any time, any place. But as I commented to a correspondent recently, couldn't it be during a shopping trip to WalMart instead of during a play I really want to watch undisturbed? Ah, well, beggars can't be choosers.