A muse is anything that helps to inspire an author, though it's often thought of as a person or spiritual assistance.
My muse is Ireland. I can't think of my mother, who is now deceased, without thinking of the Irish sense of humor and how much she loved to laugh and how she coveted a good joke. She often looked for her "Laugh of the Day" and long before the Internet and email, I used to mail her funny jokes or cartoons cut from the newspaper.
She was drawn to people with sincere smiles and a gleam in their eye. She also had a soft spot for the downtrodden, the poor and the unfortunate, and was generous to a fault.
I imagine those characteristics came from a long line of Irish ancestry. Two of her sisters had red hair and all had green or hazel eyes. Her mother had a striking resemblance to Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones) and had piercing blue eyes that didn't miss a thing.
If you are a writer, what inspires you to write?
