We all need friends. We need friends to make us laugh, to inspire us, to be truthful with us. I have a friend who is all of those things. We don't get to see each other often, we rarely speak, we mostly text one another. But she gets me. She shares my sensibilities. She is also a writer and we bounce ideas off one another. She gets my sense of humor and had a broad vocabulary so I can be myself and talk like a snob and she gets what I'm saying.
We all need friends we can talk to, especially if we live in the creative space. I call her my invisible muse not because of any romantic feeling. I'm a happily married man and my wife is the only woman I care about impressing. She is a muse because I feel a certain liberty around her and she encourages me to express myself freely. She gets my humor.
It's very liberating.
I like to read to my wife. She likes for me to read to her. It's something I did for her on our first date and have been doing ever since. Not every day, not at any specific time or occasion. I read to her when I'm inspired. She is my greatest cheerleader. I'd be lost without her.
I have another close friend I talk to about my work. She is someone near and dear to me. She's actually one of my closest friends. She listens, she encourages, and as a result she inspires me.
Yet another friend is my number one beta reader. She is the first to read anything significant I write. She ask questions and challenges me at every turn. She's a pain in the ass and I love her for it. She's been reading my work for over twenty years and I hope she'll continue to do this for me for the rest of my writing life.
But there is one muse I must always please and that muse matters more than all the others combined. The most important muse. Patient Zero. The first line of defense. That would be me. If I ain't happy, it ain't going nowhere.
Write for yourself. Make sure you're happy. Make sure you do your best. The rest will take care of itself.
Adolfo Jimenez is a writer living against his will in Hollywood, Florida. His latest release is Scenes from a 1979 Ford Fairmont, a short book of poems. Get it on Amazon!
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