Listen to your muse and unleash your creative journey.

Your muse is that annoying little voice filling your head with crazy ideas about some pie-in-the-sky venture—like writing a novel. You can ignore it. Many do.

My advice? Do not ignore your muse in favor of monumental time-wasters. Worse yet, you may leave it unfulfilled, haunting your soul for eternity with endless reminders of what could have been—the unfinished project in the garage, the painting never started, or the sweater still unknitted.

It’s your muse. Whatever it is, you’d better get to it. Who knows? You might even enjoy—and perhaps excel—at uncovering the latent creativity waiting within your psyche.

Following my muse into the unknown

I surrendered to my muse by creating a comic strip. Little did I realize that conceptualizing the paranormal premise of my Lost Cactus comic strip would open a Pandora’s Box of mythology, world-building, and character development. What began as a lighthearted strip soon evolved into a shared universe of short stories and full-length science fiction novels exploring humankind’s ultimate place in the cosmos.

In retrospect, my muse compelled me to cross a threshold. What followed was unpredictable—and rewarding.

The birth of The Powers That Be

A prime example of my creative evolution is The Powers That Be. What started as a throwaway gag about a mysterious organization in my comic strip grew into a fully realized, 300-year-old secret society at the heart of my novels. This enigmatic group—diverse and multi-generational—is tasked with guiding humankind’s fate through centuries of turmoil and discovery.

Initially, my vision was pure comic-book spectacle: speargun-toting frogmen, orbiting motherships, and villains in silver suits. But as my writing matured, the story demanded more depth and less parody.

The result? A rich backstory involving an extraterrestrial guild observing early human struggles for freedom. Inspired by tales like George Washington’s divine encounter at Valley Forge, these beings secretly allied with humanity, forming The Powers That Be—a clandestine organization guiding civilization toward its destiny.

As you’ll quickly discover upon reading the epic trilogy, things often do not go as planned.

The good. The bad. And the ugly.

The good.

The phrase ‘powers that be’ symbolizes wisdom, oversight, and technological progress, which I think most would agree represents the good. No doubt as I write this blog, somewhere on the planet—or elsewhere—sage leaders pull humankind’s strings to transform existence for the better.

The bad.

On the flip side of the coin, the powers that be also represent the bad. As in, bad things happening to good people. A shadowy ‘they’ is responsible for unseen and inexplicable manipulations when events go awry on both the micro and macro levels.

The ugly.

But what happens if the nebulous organizations that manifest a powers-that-be become compromised by unstoppable external events, like the enigmatic 3I/ATLAS? Or if the sage and wise thought leaders succumb to corrupt internal forces? After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Even worse, what if a devastating combination of outside forces and internal corruption co-occur? Then you have the makings of great conflict at the crux of The Powers That Be trilogy.

Your turn: Answer the call of your muse

So, circling back to that little voice in your head—before looming calamity wipes out the world’s infrastructure and this discussion becomes moot—why not follow your muse?

And never let the peanut gallery hold you back. They’ll have nothing to show but a lukewarm flat screen and a half-eaten bag of Fritos. Meanwhile, a long-forgotten cellophane-wrapped blank canvas, purchased on a whim at the local craft store, gathers dust in a hall closet behind an old gray overcoat nobody wears.

Listen to your muse. It might lead you somewhere extraordinary.