A quick hello
This is the first, very quick, blog. I am in the process of setting up the site, and wanted to break the ‘blank page’ curse that might otherwise linger over the site for the foreseeable future.
Future posts will be more planned, more organised and more interesting. The most interesting aspect of this post is probably the picture.
Blank page syndrome
As a writer, I often find myself staring at a blank page, lost for words. As well as being a writer I am a teacher, actor, speaker and editor (not necessarily in that order). How on earth can I get so stuck for words? What is it that is so frightening about a blank space, whether on page or screen, that it immobilises my thoughts, makes my self-confidence trickle away like sand in an hourglass, and paralyses my fingers? And yet the minute I begin, then the fear disappears. I find words pouring forth like rain from storm-clouds. Even though I may later need to edit them, and almost certainly remove the first faltering sentences, once I have breached the blank page, sullied it’s pristine purity with the very first handful of characters, the terror goes, and I am restored to my normal verbose self.
My tip to all aspiring writers, whether you want to write the next literary masterpiece or need to provide your boss with a report by Friday morning, is to begin. Write that first sentence, first paragraph, first page. Understand that you will later edit or delete it. The job of those first few words is not to be eloquent or elegant, but to break the curse of the blank page. Happy writing.