Where art thou, Muse

Inspiration is easy.
I'm not kidding. Honestly. I walk around with my little notebook, hearing snippets of songs, snatched segments of conversations, or being dumbstruck by a view or image I encounter. All of these go into the book.
Then all I have to do is write!

Yeah, cause that's easy.
Thats where all of the ideas, inspiration, moments, and observations come unstuck. Transferring the things you've collected onto the page without simply recording something verbatim is hard. How does this astounding sunset become part of the story? How can I transfer the awe I felt as I watched the clouds explode with light into a story about a woman who has just been shot? Why do I never find anything that fits with what I'm trying to write?
Well, I probably do, but I need to put the language into context. I need to get the reigns on it and make it do what I want it to do. I need to be the writer.

So, where the hell am I going with this? I'm editing. I wrote a manuscript over the course of a month. A month! I mean, that had to be inspired, right? It's weak. I left it sitting for a while and, now that I'm doing a read through, I find much of the language is too basic. I haven't come across a defining theme yet, so that's a difficult one. I like the characters, so far.
During the reread, I managed to power through forty-odd pages in an hour. That's a successful amount of reading for me, but I'm not sure I'm learning anything about the story. So what's gone wrong?
I'm not reading as a writer. I don't know how! Isn't that funny? When I read, I still read purely for entertainment. I'm not learning the craft by reading. So, I've signed up for a free course on how to read as a writer. I need to learn how to analyse a story and pick out

• themes
• characters
• use of language
• narrative reliability
• what I like about the story

What came next? Well, check this out:

How's that for a reading pile? There's a pretty good collection there, covering fantastical, factual, criminal, and others.

It's not my reading pile. It's my partner's.

Wanna see mine?

That's it out front. I have six books to read. I don't have a lot of time around study, but I need to do more reading. My intention is to take advantage of my partner's reading pile also, particularly since some of the books are things I wouldn't normally read. This will expand my boundaries, introduce me to new styles and themes, and new ways of portraying characters. This can only expand my craft and skill.

This is what a muse is, ladies and gentlmen. You.