what you do when you lose your muse?

I mean sooner or later everybody will hit the wall, won't they?
What can help? why when we're younger we were more creative?
It should be the opposite I would think...

I put a GPS tracker on my Muse. Now when it decides to wander off, I have an ap on my iPhone that lets me find it.

I remember when I first joined this forum (quite a few years ago). Someone posted a similar thread - how do you get “inspired” or something along those lines.  I explained what “works for me” - and that was a carton of Marlboros, a bottle of jack Daniels and weekend with the Chen twins at Madam Lee’s House Of Many Pleasures in Astoria Queens NY. Yes, I still smoked at that time (not any more), yes I was single (not any more) and yes I was kidding about the girls (they’re not twins) - but I don’t think anyone realized that I was kidding at the time. I decided that I would never joke about this stuff again.

So, in reality, I haven’t got an answer - in my case I seem to have cyclical moments of creativity/inspiration - and I can’t force creativity. I can make myself sit down and try to write but I have found the musical moments that I like the most (of mine own) are those that seem to appear on their own.  I’ve read Jimmy Webb’s book about composing - he makes it sound very businesslike - a real discipline - I found this surprising and also frustrating because if it really is “work” then I am guilty of being lazy - I should be working but I am sitting around waiting for those inspired moments. I hope you have more luck than I do or that you are more disciplined. I have written a few things that I think are pretty decent and it wasn’t work, it was 100% fun. I am glad I don’t do this for a living but I am even more glad that I do this.

Relax and enjoy the music - yours and everyone else's.

There is no way to force find the muse again IMO. Inspiration has its own unique quality. It will come back when it chooses. From a psychological perspective, maybe take a look at other areas of your life... are there things that may be causing you to be distracted? Job stress, family stress, boredom...? Myself, I am a "happy creator". My muse flows only when other parts of my life are reasonably stable. I sometimes wish I could use the negative creatively, but I am not that kind of person.

When that happens I just take the time off and don't even turn the studio on. It's like that old tom cat... it'll come back home when it feels like it.

I'm in that kind of a funk right now.... no desire to even write.  I mess around from time to time with ideas  but nothing is happening. I fear not that in time I will bust loose with a new batch of songs and when it does start I will be inundated with good ideas.


So quite often I do nothing, take a break and let it happen on it's own.

OR......

Sometimes I push through the lack of creativity by writing regardless. I have in fact written several decent tunes in this matter. Most professional writers use this method. Write for a set amount of time every day regardless of whether they feel like it or not. Push through the empty spaces and make it happen.  I use this method more often when I have the free time.... as when work (my daytime gig of running a business) is slow. If work is busy I use #1 until I get the time to set down and create. 

But... if I have the free time, and work is slow, and I don't have a "to do" list...... I will push through it with intention.