ATELIER LMNO

All The Words Are Not Gold

Why keeping a diary will release you from the anxiety of the blank page

Photo: Adobe Stock

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There are whole books, entire conferences, and multiple post-graduate courses dedicated to helping writers find their way when they find themselves staring at a blank page or screen. I don’t know if it’s intentionally cruel or just careless, but this seems like white-knuckling a fairly straightforward task for no discernible reason.

Remember a few months ago, when all the news magazines had a frantic story about young men who were taking long-haul flights and just staring at the seat in front of them to prove how mentally tough they were? Sitting down at your desk or chair and staring at a blank page with no thought in your head makes about as much sense to me. Thankfully, there might be a better way.

It’s old school.

One of the biggest mistakes writers make when they sit down to a blank page is thinking that everything they write should be good or there’s no point in doing it. Few of us sit down thinking, “I’ll probably never use any of this, but let me kill a few precious hours of my rather precarious life — ya know, just for shits and giggles.”