One of my oldest son’s friends and I were talking one night on myspace–she doesn’t have IM, so she was bored and emailing me, wanting to know what I was doing and I said that my muse left the country. She wanted to know what my Muse’s name was and I said I wasn’t sure. She came back with he had to be a he because he fled the country and that Leonardo should be his name–Leo for short.

The muse sorta came back.

I was feeling semi-sorry for myself because of life and not doing so hot on my Sven challenge thus far when I thought about Lisa Kleypass’s speech during Nationals about the Armadillo. If you ever get a chance to hear her speech during the luncheon, it was well worth it. It entailed how the Armadillo never seemed to give up and that that was something we as writers should remember. So, I guess you could say a lot of us walked away thinking “Armadillo, Armadillo” in our heads.

Danica bought me my own Armadillo. He’s so ugly, he’s cute. He’s perfect for Leonardo. Leonardo the Armadillo. Perfect, right? So, from now on when I’m writing, Leo is going to be close at hand, reminding me that I may be down some days, but I’m not out. What does he look like? My daughter thought it amusing if Leo had a hat, because she said he looked a little plain. He’s not happy because he thinks it looks girly, but with this cold Pennsylvania weather, he’s grateful for it.