Blank Page Paralysis

"Be intent on your actions, and only your actions; never allow yourself  to be motivated by the fruits of your actions, or fall into laziness."  (The Bhagavad Gita, 2:47)  This could be a writer's mantra.  "Write.  Write for the sake of writing.  Don't stop."

Last night a friend called.  He had to prepare a speech, and didn't know where to start.  Funny thing is, he'd already gotten a good start:  he'd figured out what form it would take and what it would be about.

But he didn't know where to start.  It sounds silly when I put it that way, but most of us have been in the same position.  It's blank page paralysis.  The page insists on staying blank even though we have thoughts to spew over it.

I advised him to "just start writing."  Where you start writing doesn't have to end up as the beginning of what you're writing.  It doesn't have to show up at all in the finished product.  But you have to get off the dime.

When you begin a novel, does the first line you write always end up as the first line of your finished work?  Of course not.  It doesn't even work that way for something as informal as an email to a friend, for heaven's sake, so why should a novel or a speech be any different.

My friend is a good writer, and I mean both that he writes well (he sits down and produces output, not stopping until he's good and ready), and that his output is well thought-out, readable and entertaining.  He'll do fine.

Part of being a good writer is skill, and the rest is discipline.  Notice I said skill, and not talent.  Talent is a loaded term -- too many people think you're born with (or without) talent, so they won't work at it to develop it.  Defeatists.  A skill, on the other hand, is something you practice or go to trade-school for.  Anyone can develop a skill.  And anyone can write (well) if they are willing to work at it.  (Some people need a great deal of work indeed.)  You need the discipline to develop that skill and not slack off.  Then you need your discipline again to carry you the rest of the way:  to use and hone your skill on a consistent basis so that you get the work done.

To come back to the quote at the start of this post, you should do something for the doing of it, not for any expected results.  The hoped-for results may or may not appear.  If they don't, and you were banking on them, then you wasted your effort.  If, however, you were doing for the doing, writing for the sake of the writing, then nothing was wasted.  If pleasant results spring from your writing, so much the better.  The fact that you're focusing on the writing rather than getting published (or giving the speech) can only make the writing better.


If you're stuck on a writing project and don't know where to go, working on another project might be a good solution.  If you're stuck on a writing project and you know exactly where to go, then start.  Start anywhere.  You can always come back later to tweak, smooth, hammer, and slice -- you always do, right?

My guess is he's already over his crisis, but does anyone have any further advice for my friend?