Facing a Blank Page

I stare at the blank page that is placed in front of me when I click on "Create new post". Just before I had a multitude of ideas swirling in my head. Thinking that if I just sit down and start writing I'll be able to get some order to them I opened a page. They disappear. And it's not the first time. The feeling of seeing an empty page and the inability to be able to write down what was in your head is depressing to say the least.

I am not talking about writers block. I have constant moments in my everyday life where I'm thinking, "I should write about that" or "that is an interesting topic". But they will hide away when I am placed face first to a page that I am expected to fill.

As I do with all the problems in my life I Google it. Halfway through page two (Yes, I am one of those who will actually look at the second page) I find a blog called "Write to Done" giving a name to this problem. He calls it writer's log jam and I think the name is very appropriate.

My main way of getting out of the jam is to just start writing about what I have done during the day. It almost always leads to tangent subjects that I can then finally get down on paper. I have to agree with Walter Benjamin:

"Never stop writing because you have run out of ideas. [...] Fill the lacunae of inspiration by tidily copying out what is already written." - Walter Benjamin

In the day of copy/paste being a couple of keystrokes (or Alt-E-S-V if you're working in Excel) this can seem outdated. But I take it to heart. Actually sitting and typing away words that have already been written or just writing the everyday happenings of your life gives you a focus and releases the fear of the empty page.