The Blank Page (a freewrite)

The blank page can be a daunting prospect. It represents all the possibilities in front of you, but also all the pressures. It is the yin and the yang. It might even be the line between the two sides that we all try to straddle. The line between chaos and order. Everything starts out as a blank page, and from there it grows.

The blank page sometimes haunts me, as it gets harder and harder to come up with quality stories to write. My mission from day one has always been to tell the truth and entertain, but what if I run out of stories? While I don't believe that’s happening, I do think there are moments when it feels that way. Writer's block is something that I guess all writers deal with at one point or another. But you can't let it stop you. Writers have to write.

I was at a poetry reading the other week. It was a rather enjoyable event at a cute bookstore that somehow has still managed to stay in business. How? I have no idea. But the event itself was a good one. Two poets took turns reading from their newly published books. It's hard to know bad poetry from good poetry, especially when none of the poems rhyme. Poetry is like abstract art, no one knows if it's good or not. I guess you don't have to get it to feel it, but it would be nice.

After the poets read their poems, the organizer of the event opened the event to a Q&A. I felt compelled, as a fellow writer in training, to ask a technical question.

"What's your writing process? When do you write, during what time of day, and where?"

Lately, my brain has been much more drawn to answering technical questions than to philosophical ones. I think when we are younger, we try to solve all the big problems. When we get older, we realize that solving big problems involves solving a million little ones. And those little ones are much easier to solve.

"Anywhere and everywhere," says one of the poets. "I don't really sit down and say now is the time to poem."

A slight rise of laughter goes through the room.

"I wait for the inspiration to come find me and then when it's there I write."

The conversation shifts to the other poet.

"I write on my morning walks. I like to go on long walks in the woods and I write on my phone as I walk. Out there I can talk to myself out loud and see how the words sound and if I like it. That's my process."

Two very different answers from two very different poets. One is aloof and philosophical, and the other is more methodical and intentional. I am sure you can guess which poet's answer I liked more, and whose book I bought shortly thereafter.

The blank page is something that we all struggle with. No one knows the future, so we all have to be the writers of our own stories. Either we write it or someone else writes it for us. Either we are the controllers of our own destinies, or we are simply the byproducts of them. The choice is ours, and not choosing is a choice.

The blank page haunts all poets, writers, songwriters, musicians, etc. Anyone who calls themselves an artist is fundamentally haunted by the blank page. It is our greatest enemy and one we must defeat over and over. But if there is no intentionality about how you are going to fill the blank page. If there is no plan, then might I say you do not deserve to call yourself an artist, writer, poet, etc. Those titles have to be earned.

There is an iconic line in Air, one of the best movies this year, where Michael Jordan's mom seals the deal to get her son a cut of every shoe that sells with his name on it. Something that is common practice now but was revolutionary at the time.

"A shoe is just a shoe till my son puts it on."

Well, a blank page is just a page, till someone fills it up.