As a relatively new blogger, I find it fascinating to see the search terms that lead people here. And when I look at the list, I notice a kind of lyrical rhythm in the disparate words. So I decided to form some of them into a poem of sorts. (Excluding a number of interesting phrases that came up in the wake of David Carradine’s death, presumably from auto-erotic asphyxiation. That would be a different kind of poem.)
Every word and phrase drew someone to this blog. I’ve added nothing, only arranged them. I recommend this as a great creative exercise for other bloggers:
Muse, what have you done? 
Morning sun just coming up,
sunflower couple daydreaming sentences
in the shower with crayons.
Words written by using stones
and painted light rays.
You’ve become just another voice in my head,
strangling my heart with familiar hands.
My first baby shoe, a lively circus,
I’m a dog at a computer desk,
the daydreaming writer in a creative period, 
waking up coughing like something was
strangling me,
struggling to live a creative life.
Muse, what have you done?
Copyright @ Sandy Ackers, Strangling My Muse: Struggling to Live a Creative Life in a Stressful World, http://www.stranglingmymuse.com
Strangling My Muse 
Nice poem Sandy! Is looking up the search terms people have used to find you one of the reports on Sitemeter? Or is it some fancy-schmancy WordPress thingy that us poor blogspoters don’t have?
Search terms show up in the blog stats that are built in to WordPress. But from what I understand, the WordPress blog stats are the same thing as
Google Analytics. You should try adding it to your blog–the search terms are fun to see! (Among other things, I get a lot of variations on strangling, strangulation, strangle me…!)
–Sandy
Thanks Sandy – I’ll try that although I think I am putting the html code in the wrong place – but we’ll see!
Slacker-chick: you and me? we’re like THIS. (You can’t see, but I’ve wrapped my 1st two fingers around each other in the gesture meaning “we’re tight”.) That’s because you asked Sandy exactly what I was going to ask. I was going to say the poem was cool too. Amazing.
Mommybrain: Oh. My. God! No waaaaaayyyyy! I’m going to have to ask my mom if she’s keeping any secrets about giving up my twin at birth or if it some alien cloning experiment. ;->
Okay, since this uncanny spiritual twin thing between the two of you has come up on all three of our blogs now…and since I’m all about creativity…and since I’m the original link between you two…
…I am throwing down a creative gauntlet.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Together, pick three topics and three days. On the chosen dates, you each blog about the same topic. No peeking at the other’s post until you’re done. Make the topics open-ended, like “The weirdest thing I’ve ever done” or “An unusual desire I haven’t fulfilled” or “Why I don’t like _____.”
So, do you accept this creative challenge, Slacker Chick and Kablooey? If you do, don’t forget to report back here on how it goes!
–Sandy
I’ll throw down. Although it sets up a weird competitive thing that feels… I don’t know… dirty and wrong. But you ARE my creative guru, so if that’s what has to be done, I guess I’m game.
Jeez Sandy, make us work why don’t ya? Well, I am not one to refuse a challenge (unless it involves physical labor, eating slugs, or jumping from high places, among other things). Kablooey – what say you?
Hey, you were already going to make at least three more blog posts in your life, weren’t you? I just want to see for myself how closely your mind and Kablooey’s are in sync…
However, I’m willing to reduce my challenge to creative gauntlet lite, if you’d rather just do one post instead of three.
–Sandy
What about a meme-y thing. Ask us fast-answer questions. It’ll be like the Newleywed Game. Newlywed. I think the Anthony Newley-wed Game would be kinda trippy. Dating myself in all kinds of ways with that reference. And if I did date myself, I’d definitely break up with an “it’s not you, it’s me.”
A meme-y thing is a good idea Kablooey – an easy way to see if we’re the same person in parallel universes. Want to do next Mondays meme at http://mondaycrazyquestions.blogspot.com? They post them on Sunday so we have time to contemplate. Then Sandy can judge whether we were separated at birth. ;->
Oh and there’s another meme site at http://sundaystealing.blogspot.com/
just saying….
I’m withdrawing my challenge. I absolutely didn’t mean to set up a competition. I don’t think creativity–true creativity, not product-producing–should be competitive. My vision is that everyone should tap into their unique creative soul and not focus on what the other monkeys are doing. I know I’m an idealist on this topic.
I thought it would be interesting to see how the two of you each handled a similar subject, since you do seem to have an unusual bond. It didn’t occur to me to think of it as a competition. I would never presume to judge anyone else’s creativity. That’s why I won’t write book reviews.
Sorry for raising uncomfortable feelings.
–Sandy
Oh Sandy – I hope you don’t feel bad – I was just being a scaredy-cat (although I’ll probably end up using your writing prompts you suggested ANYWAY!).
xo
Rochelle
I don’t feel bad — I hope you don’t feel bad either, Rochelle (or you, Kablooey). I just wanted to nip any negative feelings in the bud.
Negative Feelings = Great Muse Stranglers!
–Sandy
By the way, if anyone reading this writes books reviews, don’t take offense. I read book reviews, and I wouldn’t want to live in a world without them. I’m just not comfortable writing them myself because of my aforementioned quirky creative soul vs. other monkeys attitude.
–Sandy
Sandy: we are procrastinators! You say write about X and we’ll probably do it; you say you guys come up with the topics and we turn into excuse-generating machines. In college, when I lived a less morally sound life than I now do, I was the rationalization go-to-person. If you didn’t want to do something, you’d come to me and I’d provide a perfect rationale for dropping your project and joining me, usually for margaritas.
So give us one assignment: either a prompt or tell us to do one of the memes Slaker-chick found. Muse us up! Our job is to be annoyingly draggy of foot.
And sorry Slacker-Chick for using us and we; we should do what the guru says, right?
Since you asked for one assignment, here it is: Write a blog post on “Why I don’t like ________.” But I’m not much of a taskmaster, so if you decide to go out for a margarita instead, I won’t stop you!
–Sandy
I’ll get right/write on that Sandy…as soon as I’m done with my margarita’s *hiccup*
~Rochelle
Ha! I’ll be holding my breath…
–Sandy
Wow! Thanks for directing me here. That is very, very cool. I love that. An excellent poem in its own right, perfectly indicative of the power of the almighty muse. Then I realized someone looked up “waking up coughing like something was strangling me”, which made me laugh. Not so funny if you actually do experience sleep paralysis, but it’s just worded funny.
For weeks, every day, “man leaning” brought people/someone to my site. I tried to find myself that way with various search engines and if I didn’t find my site after 12 pages, I gave up. I’m nowhere near the top of any that I could find, so I couldn’t figure out how that was getting me traffic. Who looks that up anyway? It’s just bizarre.
I’ll add you to my blogroll also.
Thanks so much, Courtney! I’ve had the same experience of searching for myself with terms people used and not finding anything. I was also surprised that the names of my photos bring people here, even though they aren’t written in the text of the blog. I get a lot of variations on “strangling” and “strangulation” and find it interesting that people searching for strangulation info decide to visit my blog.
Thanks for adding me to your blogroll!
–Sandy