How a Blank Page Can Make You Despair or Create
The Truth about Writing — Writer’s Confession
What does a blank page mean to you?
Probably nothing if you are not a writer.
It’s often regarded a blank page is a bad thing in writing. Because a blank page means one cannot put down the words or type it. It’s a perception! If I choose to see a blank page as fear and worry what’s going to be on that blank page. Then, hell yeah, I am absolutely petrified of the blank page.
However, if I see a blank page as an opportunity, new start, exiting words pouring out of me like a volcano. Then it’s magical and exciting! What do you choose to believe a blank page is to you?
I am often being asked a question, “is it hard to write?” I always say no. The hardest thing about writing for me is sitting down and write. I spend so much time thinking about what I am going to write that it consumes me. I don’t do any writing at all. If I just sit myself down without thinking too much about what I am going to write I just write.
Thinking is what spoils the writing! The less one thinks the better the writing! The writing has to come from the soul not from the head.
One difficulty, I find, with writing is self-censoring! I don’t know how it is for other writers out there but for me it’s hard not to judge my own writing. However, a writer cannot be one’s own judge.
The writer writes but cannot ever judge.
I had to learn to let go of being perfect. I had to learn to let go of having perfectly constructed sentences, paragraphs and written pieces. I had to learn to just write and post it. It’s like writing without thinking and then click ‘Publish’! Trust me it’s harder than one thinks.
I always worry about punctuation and most of the time I get it wrong, I am sure! It’s not easy to post your articles not being perfect. However, I learn to live with the imperfections. And, let me tell you something, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. So far, no-one has cut my head off because I put a comma in a wrong a place yet. One could say I managed to escape by skin of my teeth! Just!
One may find that it is difficult to write something and then not being read by anyone or being read by tons of people and they all have an opinion. One can never win! The easiest way is to learn to let go.
What others think of you it’s none of your business!
It’s very hard to let go of your art! I just created a masterpiece on a page and now I have to let go??! It’s excruciating feeling of despair, hope, love, hate, magic, excitement, joy and whatever else you want to throw in to the mix.
I studied art from a very young age until I graduated school. I used to paint, draw and sketch a lot! In one of the history lessons of art, I read somewhere that a painting belongs to a painter while he paints, however, as soon as it’s finished it belongs to the world. I always remember that.
It’s not easy to let go of yourself. Every piece of writing one creates one has to let go of that bit of themselves. One can choose to see it as a loss or one can choose to see it as an opportunity to grow. It’s like a new blank page. We have to die in order to live. Therefore, the more we let go the more we live. We are so used to holding everything to ourselves always.
Saving your gifts for that special occasion is never a good idea! That special occasion may never come! The gifts and talents one has meant to be shown to the world. The more we hide the less we create. The more I die the easier it is for me to live. If you don’t believe me look at nature! Every tree sheds its leaves every year once a year. It’s their time to let go!
The spring comes and they blossom. They live new life until it’s time to let go. Nothing is constant it’s all one big movement of life. Everything comes and goes so is the blank page. It comes and goes. Every blank page is a new start of life!
I never know what I am going to write. I have a whole list of ideas but I never use it. A blank page provides me with infinite choice of themes. I never plan or think about what I am writing. I just write and then let go. The more I do it the easier it becomes. In the end the only thing that matters is that I write. For any writer out there, the only thing that matters is that you write whatever that is.
My friends used to tell me please just write something, it doesn’t matter what. I never liked that. I needed to have a perfect subject. I needed to have a plan. I needed to be in the right place at the right time and, of course, it was never right. I never had a perfect plan. I had to learn to let go and just write. It’s liberating! This goes for anything one does.
If one is struggling with anything just start putting it out there. The more I share my writing the more I become myself. I am peeling off like an onion sheds its coat. I encourage every writer to write more. Have as many blank pages as possible and create magic.
