There are days, even now, when the words just don’t want to come. I look at the blank page for hours, back and forth, wondering what to say, wondering what will matter. I open blog posts and write challenging topics that I think will inspire me and my readers. And they sit here, staring at me. Days like today, I don’t know what to write. And when I want to write more than I ever have, the words don’t come.
And then, suddenly, a moment of inspiration…
The silence of the blank page.
The promise of the memories it will hold.
Anything is possible.
Any world can be real.
A million possible combinations.
Twenty-six letters that change the world.
Strung together in nonsense.
They suddenly make sense.
Anything is possible now.
A fresh, new world awaits.
Have you ever looked at the blank page and wondered what it could mean, what it could hold? Have you ever thought of all the letters and combinations and words that make up your experiences and your stories? The blank page is like a breath of fresh air and a storm brewing at the same time. There is so much it could be, but sometimes I’m rendered completely immobile by the power that the page holds.
Some days I don’t feel like I could ever live up.
I don’t feel like I am worthy.
The blank page mocks me.
Wants me to fail.
My success is dependent on defacing its beauty.
Pouring my heart onto the page.
Marring it with my story.
Changing what it means.
Who it affects.
Why it exists.
There are days when not writing feels easier. When not telling the stories makes more sense. When just happily going along in my life, not rocking the boat, not making an impact is the safe answer. My words don’t have to be shared. They don’t have to be challenged or changed. Those words, those beautiful words, can stay safely in my head, right where they make sense and are almost perfect.
That’s the challenge isn’t it, on days like this? The challenge is to remember that the words are always meant to be shared. They are meant to be given to the world, not kept inside. The same thing that makes a person want to be a writer is the thing that keeps us from locking the words away inside ourselves. As frustrating and painful as the process of sharing those words is, it is something we simply cannot not do.
Beyond the fear
Is a beautiful release
As the stories we see
Become the words we read.
The silence of the blank page
Explodes into our private symphony
As all our hopes and dreams
Are revealed for the world to see.
So, as I look at the blank page and wonder what it means, I am encouraged to remember that the blank page isn’t a threat – it’s a promise that I can make the world my beautiful story. I can tell the facts and the fiction and make them make sense to the world.
Here’s to the writers!