Have you ever looked up the “holidays” for the month of May? It’s pretty diverse. May is Date Your Mate Month, Foster Care Month, National Barbecue, Bike, Blood Pressure, Hamburger, Photograph, Salad, and Recommitment Month.

Within the month of May there’s Nurse’s Week, Wildflower Week, National Bike Week, National Police Week, and Emergency Medical Services Week. And, of course, there are daily “holidays” that are too numerous to count. By the second website I looked at I had amassed a list of over fifty, and I’m pretty sure nobody wants me to list them all. However, some of the more fun ones (read as: bizarre) that I did find include Lumpy Rug Day, National Candied Orange Peel Day, No Diet Day, Lost Sock Memorial Day—which falls the day after No Socks Day… correlation, or am I just crazy?—Blame Someone Else Day, Dance Like a Chicken Day, and No Dirty Dishes Day.

Oh, May, you crazy beast, you.

By the way, today, the 20^th, encompasses Be a Millionaire Day, National Bike to Work Day, and Pick Strawberries Day. I hope you get the chance to celebrate at least one of the three. I myself am typing this in the backseat of limo while wearing a tuxedo and drinking champagne. (That’s a lie.)

I have my own reason to celebrate this month, beyond my awesome mother and the recently passed Mother’s Day, and that is the release of my newest novel, Wolf en Garde – book 2 of the Wolf series, on the 18^th. Much happy, very excited, so tired from the blog tour (!) but I am so pumped about getting to touch base with everyone again. Huge thanks to all the sites that hosted, all the participants that took part, and the friends that kept me on my toes throughout when I forgot this, that, or the other thing: big hugs, many kisses, much love!

So now that we’re all caught up, let’s get back to business so I can get out of this tux. (Still lying about that.)

I started answering friends and reader questions a few weeks back and I found one on the list that I felt had to be answered earlier than nought. It was from my awesome buddy, Raphael, and he asked: If your Muse decided to show up, what would you ask Her?

I have no doubt that he knew exactly how I would answer this too, as it’s an easy one for me. I’d look Her straight in eye and ask, “What do YOU want?”

See, the Muse is thought of in different ways by everyone, but basically it boils down to a presence (internal or otherwise) that is meant to bring about artistic inspiration. They are presented in fiction and mythology as everything from an amusing sponsor to a merciless challenger of both divine and demonic levels. They are givers and they are thieves. They promote harmony but have also been known to cause discord. However, none of those things are the reason that I would be less than cordial if my Muse happened to come knocking.

This is: Nobody, No Thing, No One, No Who or How gets to be responsible for what I do or do not write. I am responsible for what I put out and I am the one responsible when I don’t manage to do it. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: writing is hard. Like, really hard. It’s difficult to get up on a Saturday or a Sunday (or both!) after a long week of work and get yourself writing instead of deciding to take the day off and relax. It’s hard to get home after a nine hour shift and start updating your website instead of grabbing a glass of wine or turning on Netflix. And when I do those things, it’s because I’m making myself do them. There is no being, internal or real, that is granting me the opportunity or the resilience to get going. It’s all me, only me, and if, on the flip side, I don’t manage to make myself do it, I don’t sit back and blame my Muse either. It’s my fault.

By disassociating my work ethic, my determination, or even my failures into something that I refer to as a “Muse,” I’m reallocating my deserved self-praise and my just-as-deserved criticisms when I fail. I have to do what I need to do because I absolutely want to.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t have people who inspire me. I have tons of them: Kelly Wyre with her heartfelt stories and fascinating characters; Raphael with his beautiful artwork and relentless optimism; Sam and Megan from Less Than Three Press with their dedication and constant patience; Frosty, Wynter, and Quad with all their online support, their appropriate pics on Tumblr and occasionally inappropriate but hilarious comments; Dani, Crystal, and their team members with all their support; and last but never least the readers that purchase, review, and amp up my blog tours and media posts. You are all inspirational to the core.

But I can’t put my failures on a single one of them and I have to reserve my success over the struggle to create for myself. I don’t need a Muse. I write because writing is a major part of who I am, not because someone or something has compelled me to.

So, no thanks. If my Muse does finally show up, She can keep stepping. I hear there are a lot of folks that could use Her assistance.

I’m just not one of them.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

AF Henley <3

Henley was born with a full-blown passion for run-on sentences, a zealous indulgence in all words descriptive, and the endearing tendency to overuse punctuation. Since the early years Henley has been an enthusiastic writer, from the first few I-love-my-dog stories to the current leap into erotica. A self-professed Google genius, Henley lives for the hours spent digging through the Internet for ‘research purposes’ which, more often than not, lead seven thousand miles away from first intentions but bring Henley to new discoveries and ideas that, once seeded, tend to flourish.

Henley has been proudly publishing with Less Than Three Press since 2012, and has been writing like mad ever since. Henley’s newest release, “Wolf en Garde – book 2 of the Wolf series” hit the market on May 18^th and is now available at LT3, Amazon, or you favourite online distributor.

For more information please stop by for a visit at afhenley.com.