Mirka Muse

Musings about the writing life and life in general

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Taking a Break

›
 THIS BLOG IS ON A BREAK UNTIL MAY 19th  MIRKA MUSE is recharging πŸ‘‰See you thenπŸ‘ˆ
4 comments:
Tuesday, April 21, 2026

THE POWER OF THE RIGHT WORDS

›
Or- “COLORS IN THE MOUNTAINS”   I first learned the power of words when I was four years old. It was a lesson in marketing for wee-me....
7 comments:
Tuesday, April 14, 2026

PAY THE PIED PIPER

›
                                                                     Or— "NOTHING IS CERTAIN EXCEPT DEATH AND TAXES" Benjamin ...
4 comments:
Tuesday, April 7, 2026

The Day I became a Cinematographer…

›
  A few weeks ago, while minding my own business, a knock on my kitchen door snapped me out of my trance of contemplating what I should make...
7 comments:
Tuesday, March 31, 2026

FOOLS SHMOOLS

›
            GOT ME EVERY TIME Or— Get ready, for tomorrow they come😈 With the mΓ©lange of news that verge on the absurd, the factoids ...
4 comments:
Tuesday, March 24, 2026

From FRANTIC to STEADY

›
  As I’m rounding my fourth draft of my WIP, a novel for middle grades, I reflect on the process and how it has changed over my writing year...
7 comments:
Tuesday, March 17, 2026

LUCK OF THE IRISH

›
When I first heard the expression “luck of the Irish,” it was from a person of Irish ancestry. Not wanting to question his Irishness or expo...
4 comments:
Tuesday, March 10, 2026

“MR. WATSON COME HERE, I WANT YOU”

›
  ON THIS DATE, MARCH 10 TH , IN 1876 … From that first ever telephone call by Alexander Graham Bell and to this day, the world would neve...
9 comments:
Tuesday, March 3, 2026

DON’T BE THE ONE TO TELL YOURSELF “NO”

›
 The above goes under the caption “BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT.”   Life is full of Nos.   First, there are your parents, who are doing th...
5 comments:
Tuesday, February 24, 2026

FOOD IN STORIES and IN LIFE

›
  “Bread is the staff of life.” This English idiom, coined in the 17 th century, continues to haunt writers of fiction.   No one would ...
5 comments:
Tuesday, February 17, 2026

SPOOKED

›
  Some things, which the rationalists call “coincidences,” will spook those of us who think lives are a mixture of the coincidental and the ...
7 comments:
Tuesday, February 10, 2026

WHERE’S YOUR FOCUS TODAY?

›
  Ever notice that when you have focused on a particular task you begin to notice all things related to the task elsewhere?   Years ago,...
6 comments:
Tuesday, February 3, 2026

MAKE ROOM for the NEW

›
 An undeniable fact of life is that everything passes.   When friends leave, whether to another location or to another world, I understand...
5 comments:
Tuesday, January 27, 2026

StoryWorth HAS BEEN WORTH IT

›
  A little over a year ago, DD informed me that a gift from her was coming my way via the interwebs. And, as it turned out, the gift was a...
4 comments:

CUT THE HARSH TALK TO SELF

›
  The other day, I stopped, listened, and for the first time really heard— the harsh way I was talking to myself.   Me: “What a dumb thi...
5 comments:
Tuesday, January 20, 2026

DO SOMETHING TODAY YOUR TOMORROW WILL THANK YOU FOR

›
  ^GOOD ADVICE TO LIVE BY^ During my less self-scheduled days, I find myself tempted by a sense of laziness to put off what I could do but...
3 comments:
Tuesday, January 13, 2026

MANAGING DIFFERENCES as a GOAL, FOR LIFE and in STORIES

›
  One of my foundational values is getting along with people. It’s not much of an obstacle when others think like me. It’s only a challeng...
5 comments:
Tuesday, January 6, 2026

NO to “CHOSEN ONE” Stories

›
  There’s a popular trope in children’s literature which swept the world with the arrival of Harry Potter et al. This trope centers on a chi...
7 comments:
Tuesday, December 30, 2025

NEW YEAR~=~ NEW HOPES

›
 For as long as we keep marking and noting the passing of years, we will continue to count on hope that the numerical change of the counter ...
6 comments:
Tuesday, December 23, 2025

JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COVER

›
  We’ve heard about not judging a book by its cover. This goes for not dismissing a person because of the way they dress, or their vocabular...
5 comments:
Tuesday, December 16, 2025

How to DISAPPEAR FROM THE INTERNET

›
  About six months ago, a digital security expert writing for the New York Times made a valiant attempt to “disappear from the Internet.” ...
6 comments:
Tuesday, December 9, 2025

The Faulty Concept of WRITERS’ RETREATS

›
  Years ago, I was asked by a good friend (not a writer or artist) if I had a writing retreat I go to in order to, what else, write.   I...
6 comments:
Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Why “ASPIRING” Should be Struck from Our Self-definition

›
  I’ve blogged about this before, but the thorny matter of artists calling themselves “ aspiring artist/musician/writer” continues to sting....
8 comments:
Tuesday, November 25, 2025

The GIVING THANKS Week, Again

›
  Thanksgiving week is upon us.   Grateful for my brilliant children, and for good kids everywhere.   Grateful for my patient husban...
6 comments:
Tuesday, November 18, 2025

NOVEMBER 18TH 1963:

›
  ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY, THE FIRST PUSH-BUTTON (TOUCH-TONE) TELEPHONES DEBUTED IN THE UNITED STATES, EVENTUALLY REPLACING MOST ROTARY-DIAL...
7 comments:
Tuesday, November 11, 2025

AI, AGAIN: “STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES”

›
Since I read (was it by AI? There was an author name attached, but one never knows) that fifty percent of writers admit to using AI not just...
5 comments:
Tuesday, November 4, 2025

AYI-YAH-YAI---AI is EVERYWHERE

›
  In an older post , I disparaged agents whose submission forms ask if your fiction was written by AI. I mean, who would do such a thing? ...
4 comments:
Tuesday, October 28, 2025

HAS QUIRKINESS REPLACED REAL CHARACTERIZATION?

›
  I’ve been noticing a trend that, while having trickles of historical roots, has become a flood in the last thirty years or so.   What ...
4 comments:
Tuesday, October 21, 2025

WRITER’S DROUGHT

›
  I don’t get “ writer’s block ,” which in my not humble enough opinion is clinical depression as manifested in a writer. But I do have chap...
5 comments:
Tuesday, October 14, 2025

DISTINCTIVE SPEECH PATTERNS

›
  One of my first beta readers, way back when, suggested that my plotting was strong but that characters lacked distinctive speech patterns....
5 comments:
Tuesday, October 7, 2025

WORLDS GONE TO ETHER

›
  A dear friend told me more than ten years ago that her physical bookshelves were emptying. For reasons of space saving, she had gone from ...
5 comments:
Tuesday, September 30, 2025

PERCEPTION, WHOSE? *

›
  One of my favorite Jewish jokes goes like this: Two people have an argument and go to the rabbi to rule who’s right. After hearing the f...
10 comments:
Tuesday, September 23, 2025

AS WE ENTER THE GATES INTO YET ANOTHER YEAR...

›
 HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL ITS LEAVES FALLING ON THE PATH TO A MORE PEACEFUL MERCIFUL FUTURE πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚ πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚ πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚ πŸ‚
4 comments:
Tuesday, September 16, 2025

THINKING of POLLS

›
  This morning, I am thinking about polls. Not “the Poles,” who are the people of Poland, but these pesky things asking for our opinion.  ...
3 comments:
›
Home
View web version

About Me

My photo
Mirka Breen
View my complete profile
Powered by Blogger.