“How [can you] live a lifetime of creativity without cutting your ear off” –Elizabeth Gilbert

Interesting episode of Radio Lab this week which looks at “the little deals you make when you are stuck, with yourself.”  The stories include a variety of challenges from beating smoking addiction to overcoming writer’s block/invoking the muse: an interesting combination.   The latter segment, about 24 minutes into the hour-long program, will likely be the one of most interest (even help) to your writerly self.  Some of it is a bit disturbing (Oliver Sachs threatening himself with suicide if he didn’t finish his book Migraine within 10 days—surely that was enough to invoke a migraine is not a muse).  The segment also features Elizabeth Gilbert, not my favorite writer, but she does talk a lot about the experiences Tom Waitts has had with inspiration, so I have to give her credit for that.

http://www.radiolab.org/story/117165-help/#commentlist