(Review) Sleeping Beauty Short Story By John Phythyon Jr

We all know the story, beautiful girl pricks her finger, falls asleep, true love's first kiss breaks the spell and all of those elements are here in this story, but the way they unfold here is different and pretty intriguing. This isn't simply a transplant of a fairy tale plot into a modern setting, this is a total reworking of the classic story that makes sense and works in our modern world.
Set in an upscale neighborhood the "Sleeping Beauty" in the story is groomed from an early age and forced into a life of pageantry by her mother, brought up to be a perfect little princess, which I thought worked really well for the story and gave it an ironic twist, drawing parallels to the whole "Toddlers and Tiaras" thing going on right now.

The Muse as a Muscle

Just some quick musings (HAHAHA! HILARIOUS!) on developing the Muse as a muscle.

Some people are of the school of thought that "The Muse" is an abstract, metaphysical thing that you can't tame, and can't control. I used to be guilty of this too. But lately I've been of the thought that you can learn to control your muse and with great control and discipline it will become something you can turn on and off like a light switch.