Me and a Muse

The night I met Clio at Clio’s, Oakland’s new "It" bookstore

My last party of 2024 was a high concept literary party at my favorite used bookstore/bar/venue/hideaway, Clio’s. “Come dressed as your favorite author, poet, philosopher or idea,” they say, and the theme of their New Year’s event was the 1920’s. I’ve been deep-reading (that means taking notes) Self Made by Tara Isabella Burton, which gives a fascinating historic overview of how we create our personas and our success. I’d just gotten up to the ‘20s, and knew just what to dress as: the big idea of the decade, “It.”

The 1927 silent movie “It”, starring Clara Bow, was inspired by novelist and screenwriter Elinor Glyn, who makes a cameo in the movie as the author of an article about “It”. The movie is delightful and you can watch the WHOLE THING right here!

Also, Glyn seemed to like doing formal portraits with her fluffy cats.

My costume was inspired both by spunky shopgirl Betty Lou Spence and Glyn herself, featuring a very 1920s dress made in the ‘80s (I took out the shoulder pads), a turban and ropes of pearls. The Gatsby Glitterati gathered, of course, for this event, dressed as 1920s notables such as Edna St. Vincent Millay (my grandmother’s literary crush) and Edith Sitwell. I told them my literary dream: to make a cameo appearance in a movie inspired br something I wrote!

Only $2,500 at Abe Books!

From my mouth to the Muse's ears…!

The muse herself was there, co-owner Megan Johnson dressed as Clio in a fabulous Fortuny pleated silk gown, reminiscent of the Columbia pictures goddess (and here’s a cool story about that).

Starting a new year with a muse on my shoulder!

We fell into a conversation about self-creation and manifestation, about how when you have an inspiration (idea + passion) , the universe throws opportunities at you to make it real. It seemed a gift of the Big U to put the lovely visage of the Muse of History in my path, since I’ve been wrestling with past poets lately, exploring the quantum fields of thought they influenced.

Megan was a-mused by my muse-based spirituality, and my cartoon representation of Clio, which you may have gotten a peek at in the June 2016 edition of the Museletter if you’ve been reading for a while. As she Spaketh the Idea to have a framed copy of this illustration at the bookstore, I felt an intention come to me with a certain glow (which may have also been enabled by my cocktail; my muses work well with prosecco), to actually write that book. “I’ll put it on my list,” I silently promised the goddess within, as I hugged Megan good night. I left the party early to ring in the new year with my husband…and a good book!

Happy new year to you, Dear Reader. I’ve decided to postpone the start of MY new year until next week, when Dave goes back to work and therefore so do I. I’m spending these last quiet hours of the holiday season taming my towering to-do list. As much as I want to write about politics and the chaos, I need to stay focused on my own throughline. (Although I do re-stack a lot of other people’s thoughts and insights in my Substack Notes, and also now on Bluesky.)

I hope you are also approaching the next big unknown with inspiration, and a commitment to the perspiration it takes to bring beautiful ideas to life. What’s your big idea, inspiration or creative goal this year? I would love to put it on the list of things for my muses to cheer on!