The Blank Page - Grasshopper

Writers often talk about staring at a blank page. That’s their way of saying they don’t know what to write about. There are two main paths they follow when facing a blank page.

1.     They go into their head and have a conversation with themselves that goes something like this. “I have no idea what to write, I don’t feel anything coming to me, I’m uninspired, and I’m just out of ideas.

2.     They get quiet and wait. That means they do some kind of mind-calming ritual and create space in their thinking and wait for something to pop into that space.

 

Strategy One keeps you in a continuous loop of self-doubt and your mind stays crowded, leaving no room for a new idea to come through.

 

Strategy Two is based on faith and confidence. Faith that there is a part of you that’s creative, and confidence that part of you will deliver.

 

Strategy Two works for everyone, not just for those who write.

 

“Thinking things over” is probably the worst problem-solving strategy that we use. It’s useful up to a point, like weighing pros and cons, but after that it becomes ineffective.

 

Just use your own experience as an example. How successful have been when thinking things over? It just leads to repetition of the same unworkable thoughts and ideas running around in your head. We convince ourselves that if we think about the situation some more, something will come of it. Again, I invite you to measure your success with that method.

 

There is a part of you that’s creative. Just look at the creative answers you’ve come up with in the past. We all own that experience. Once you acknowledge that there is a creative part of you just itching to come through, that’s when it’s time to get quiet and let that part do its work.

 

Think of this part of you as the soil you plant a flower seed in. If you dig up the soil every day to see if the seed has taken root, you won’t get results. If you have confidence in the process and wait, you’ll get to see the bloom on the rose.

 

To fill a void, you have to create one. That’s how to fill up a blank page.

 

All the best,