What to do when facing the blank page!

I have written eighty-four consecutive posts, and so far, so good. I have not faced a blank page that I didn’t immediately rush to fill up with words.

I am feeling good about that because before, I would be terrified about getting things started.

Previously I would be starting, stopping and then rewriting, and that is just the opening sentence.

I can imagine that is familiar to many people (Bloggers) that image I just painted.

But I know it will come, the writer’s block. It will arrive at my feet, prominent and highly visible. I will get the ‘block’ so they tell me.

It will, I guess. They are always right.

Who is ‘They?’ I hear you ask. 

Ok, I didn’t hear you ask that, but I thought of that on your behalf.

The ‘They’ are the people who are trying to flog me some course to keep my creative juices flowing and overcome my writer’s block. 

It is very similar to the person who is flogging me a creative planner that can give me a new creative starting point every day of the year, 365 creative ideas. All for a princely sum.

It is equally as similar as the person who is selling me the creative cards to prompt my various perspectives into creative action. Shuffle the cards, pick one and got to town working on that very select idea. What a nifty little tool.

All of these are super creative ideas in and are designed with the perplexed user in mind.

But, I have said it before, and I will say it again, everyone is selling something. It is the world we live in.

The salesmen are even now selling you the creativity in your own head or the tools to unlock it.

It is excellent that, I do like it. All the things I get emailed about are great ideas and tools, and they do serve a purpose.

Unlocking peoples creative potential.

I honestly can see the need for tools to unlock your creativity, and I wish I had invented many of the ones that cross my path. In themselves, they are very creative in design, mechanics and in concept.

Pretty sound ideas.

I definitely would have needed something like this if I wasn’t now ahead of the game.

You see, I had already been planning out my own calendar and building my own creative cards.

The person that e-mailed me his new offer this morning had e-mailed me the same offer six months ago.

I thought then as I thought now, what a cracking idea.

Here is some history for you. At the time I received the first offer email, I had been faced with a blank page. I knew I wanted to create something but I didn’t know what.

That e-mailed offer prompted me into action, and I set about creating my own set of idea stimulating cards. Since then, I have been building and growing the set by adding to it regularly, and now I have over 365 creative ideas to get my teeth into.

Just like that, tons of reference material.

Generated with a little bit of effort. I have been like a busy magpie, grabbing the shiny, inspirational things.

It has become a habit that I have organised around.

It cost me nothing to do my own cards, and the process has unlocked my creativity. It has led me on the path of continually creating stuff, and I have developed it all into an innovative little workflow for myself.

Thank you, Mr e-mail marketing owner. Your desire to unlock other peoples creativity worked.

This is precisely why I have signed up for so much marketed offers and free stuff on the internet.

All it costs me is the task of sharing my e-mail address (which I keep specifically for this type of situation) and a little effort to weed out the chaff from the wheat.

I am then left with an inspirational daily e-mail batch that I can use to furnish my prompt cards.

All in all, it is a win-win situation for everyone. I get ideas and inspiration, and the creative people that pump out the marketing material have my e-mail address and they get the access to me.

the added bonus is that I also get to learn stuff, and the main thing is now…

I now know how to tackle the blank page when it arrives. Shouting into my head…

I pick up my card deck.

Queue the electronic version of the card shuffle.


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