The blank page
What do you think when you see this?
Do your fingers itch to type? Does your mind whirl with possibilities? Have you already started to write the first sentence? Perhaps it’s one you’ve had in your head for a while but not had the chance to write down yet. Or may be you’ve already worked out the plot, you know exactly who your characters are and you just can’t wait to get stuck in and actually write your book.
If any of these are happening to you, then you’re a writer.
Friends often ask, how can you look at a blank page? Doesn’t it terrify you?
No. I love a blank page. To me it isn’t empty. It’s filled with infinite possibilities. In fact I prefer the blank page to the ones I’ve already written, where perhaps the writing hasn’t lived up to what I’d hoped. The blank page though, that’s the one I can still look forward to. That’s the page where my genius will finally show itself (okay, okay, I know, but writers do spend an awful lot of their time in fantasy land).
If you look at the blank page and instead of wanting to fill it you wonder what it will say, then I suspect you’re a reader. In which case, can I say thank you? Writers need readers. Without them, we’re nothing. Readers give us a purpose, a reason to write. They also encourage, giving us confidence to continue. And if you’re a reader who provides feedback, you make us better.
If you’re ambivalent about the picture, with no desire to write or read the words, you’re probably one of my sons.