Princess Leia: 21st century Muse

I've been mulling over the way we visualise the Muse. That entity credited with helping us get creative.

I know there are Muse unbelievers. Writers who reach their deadlines without any reference to out-of-desk experiences and spiritual beings. They're possibly the same sceptics who crush ideas about Father Christmas and tut-tut about the Tooth Fairy.

Well, I'll take any help there is in the arena of the arts. Otherwise it's just me here.

I suspect the unbelievers' resistance is partly because of the packaging. Just as Papa Claus gets trussed up, round as a barrel and red as holly berries, the Muse is still wearing a floaty chiffon makeover. All very good in Ancient Greece but not much succour for 21st century writers, grappling with Google, Microsoft and an old spluttering bubble jet printer.

But the problem with a stereotype is its capacity to endure. It burrows so far into the mind, it's virtually impossible to delete. I've tried to shape shift the image into something alternative, but nothing seems to work beyond the third paragraph.

So out she pops again, the mystical Muse, wafting over me like the holographic Princess Leia emerging from R2-D2.

So it's occurred to me, perhaps Princess Leia offers a compromise. Yes, you still get the long white gown and an impossible hairdo, but at least she's computer literate. And she'll get you past any writers' block: "I don't know who you are or where you've come from" she'll order, "but from now on you'll do as I say. Okay?"