The Blank Page and How to Defeat It

There it is.

The blank white screen. Or if you write long-hand, the blank white page.

It’s ready to be filled with your scribblings. Your words need to be written on that page.

There’s a problem though. Nothing’s coming out.

You stare at the screen/paper. Nada.

You even resort to pleading with it. No dice.

It’s at this point you wonder why you didn’t listen to your mother and go into a nice lucrative field like Engineering or something.

Writing is a difficult habit to sustain. It’s even more difficult when you can’t figure out what to write.

Blocks like this are the most frustrating point for a writer to get into. The advice for breaking through writer’s block are many. I have a few that have worked for me that I can pass on.

1. 22 Tips on Storytelling by Pixar Want some great advice? Go to the writers of Pixar.
2. Neil Gaiman’s 8 Good Writing Practices Neil Gaiman’s advice is simple, to the point and, makes you want to write.
3. How to Get Past Writer’s Block Might seem a bit on the nose, but this is the distilled knowledge of several authors on how they overcame their own hurdles.
4. Writing Prompts: Here and Here are some of the best. It gets the creative juices churning and frothing to write about these ideas.
5. Neil Peart’s Top Ten Rules for Success As Rush’s lyricist and drummer, Neil Peart is a force of nature. His advice isn’t exclusively for musicians. It can be applied across the creative spectrum.

If these can help, wonderful. I’m glad they did.

If you find another way around the block you have, do as Yoda says. “Pass on what you have learned.”

 

Down & Back

I’ve been lying low for the past two and a half months. My presence online has been lower than normal since…well, ever.

I thought I’d do some explaining.

Midway through December a couple of things happened to me at once. Both debilitating and both at the worst time ever.

Number 1: I got the flu. Found out later this strain of flu had been putting people in the hospital. I was fortunate enough only to lose 25-30 pounds by not being able to eat for two weeks.

The less said about that, the better.

Getting the flu wasn’t enough, though. I was at work at the time and had to drive myself home. Walking out to my car lead me to…

Number 2: I tore a hamstring.

Those who don’t know me, here’s a fun fact. I can hyper extend my knees very easily. It’s a fun little party trick. I do it to freak out friends and relatives. It can come back to bite me. Especially when I’m distracted and I, for example, step off a curb. Sure enough, I stepped off a curb and snap! I’d done this before. Hyper-extended too far and on accident. Nothing came of it the last time. So I figured it was the same scenario. Until my foot started to swell like a balloon and hurt like a [LANGUAGE REDACTED].

……uh, pretty sure I meant to swear there.

MOM!!!

Oh well.

Paying a visit to Urgent Care, the Doctor informed me that I had torn a hamstring and I was supposed to stay off my feet.

So I was sick and hobbled.

The flu kept me down for a good week and a half. The hamstring kept me down for longer.

I was not myself and not very fun to be around.

Something I need to say here is my wife is a sainted woman. She took care of me during this time. Going above and beyond.

I really love her. More so now than before.

One other thing about being hit by all of this at once. When I was down I was so out of it that all of my creative endeavors fell by the wayside.

Fortunately, I’m feeling much better now. I’m walking and working again. Most importantly, I’m writing again.

So enough talking about what put me down. Time to get back to it.