Stephen King, "On Writing"

"There is a muse,

but he's not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer station.

He lives in the ground.

He's a basement guy.

You have to descend to his level,

and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in.

You have to do all the grunt labor,

in other words,

while the muse sits and smokes cigars

and admires his bowling trophies

and pretends to ignore you."

Stephen King,

On Writing: a memoir of the craft