Let’s start today with a quote:
Blank paper is intimidating. It’s the cute girl at school, and you’ll need every ounce of courage you can muster to ask her for a dance.
Today I was going to go for a walk in solitude to figure out what to write about and I spent most of the day pondering subjects that might be interesting, going back and forth in my mind and then trying to figure out which of those would be the best or most popular.
It left me feeling more and more confused – which angle to take, what to say, etc.
Then I realized something. I realized I’m actually pretty melancholy today and I figured, “You know what, ‘That’s what I’m going to write about.'”
So I got home and sat down in front of a blank screen, putting my words into “Focus writer” and everything just flowed.
All the ideas, all the concepts I had they just came out and I saw them in their light, naturally organized for the first time.
I think that’s just how you write. You don’t try and aim for a goal – at least not always.
You just sit down and write because in all honesty everything you do, every moment you feel or live through has value.
If you write about sadness; that element will tip out of your being, people will feel the way you feel and it can’t be faked.
You can write about strength and having confidence (when you’re sad) but it won’t be the same.
It won’t resonate; people will lose that sense of understanding because you yourself don’t know what confidence is in that moment and everything has value.
Writing About Emotions
Sadness gives you a moment to reflect and take stock of your life to revise what’s important to you.
Cheekiness – gives you adeptness and dexterity of thought to write something you might otherwise overlook – despite it being rude and disrespectful.
Anger – if harnessed properly can give you the grit to go the extra distance and go further then you normally would; an extra mile, an extra rep or writing more increasingly with passion.
But these are just emotions – there’s always things you might see that you didn’t before or concepts that might now take precedence over your life, shining into light.
Cherish and value your thoughts, your emotional energy and the moment you’re in – embrace it because, who knows, it might just become the best thing you’ve written.
I’m reminded of the saying, “A fish that swims in water it’s whole life, doesn’t even know that the water exists.”
You might not know what the value is in what you’ve written until it’s out there. You can always come back later and edit your work (read: extract the golden nuggets), but just get it out there for now.
The Blank Page As An Obstacle
I’ve read somewhere that your brain doesn’t start working until you’ve done something.
That’s why the blank page is such a huge obstacle and “just writing” gets a flow going.
For the past few months, I’ve felt like I had writer’s block. I’d go to a café – I often write in cafés – and just write what was on my mind, passing thoughts, observations about people that were around, and just whatever came to my mind.
I thought it was all garbage but the other day I went back and read all that I’d written and some of it is actually pretty good.
When it comes to writing fiction, though, I need to start from an idea that’s going to drive the whole story.
I don’t need to know the ending and I make up the characters that will fit that one idea I have.
Then it just pours out of me. I’m kinda stumped now because I need one driving idea for a romantic comedy I’m writing.
On Writing Characters
I think it’s important to be able to feel them yourself in order to write about them.
I think that is where a journal is powerful.
No matter what you’re feeling, if you can capture it on paper then when you need to write about a certain emotion you can refer to what you wrote when you experienced that emotion.