The blank page in front of me or the blinking line on the computer screen frustrate the heck out of me. Worse yet is trying to write on gloomy mornings with thunderstorms.
Today, I had the double whammy of motivational challenges. Not only was I staring at the blank page with the blinking line, it was storming outside. The flashes of lightning appeared in my window and I heard the thunder rumbling. Oh great, a thunderstorm, my favorite time to sleep and the temptation was calling me to go back to bed.
No one should be up writing when it is dark outside, right?
But, I fought the temptation to go back to bed. I grabbed a cup of coffee before another excuse or two appeared before me to drop the idea of writing for today.
As I listened to the rain pouring outside I wondered how many other people are up at the same time of day, sitting at their computers or in front of their notebooks writing a blog, or a book, or a movie, or a love song, or whatever it is that they have to or should be writing?
The blinking line continued flashing away.
What’s the deal? Why couldn’t I think of something to write today? What was blocking me? I spent the night dreaming about things or ideas to share, why is it I couldn’t remember a single one when I stood there in front of my desk ready to write. All I felt was…blah…blah…blah.
What do the professional writers do to overcome the blinking line on the blank page in front of them?
If you’re feeling blah, blah, blah about your writing block, go grab a cup of coffee and join me for a few motivational quotes to overcome the blank page.
Quotes by people who no doubt overcame many blank pages moments in their lives. There is the ability in all of us to overcome blank page moments. What it takes is just doing it.
Write.Just.Write.
I enjoy the freedom of the blank page. – Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh wasn’t a success from day one, it took him awhile, but he persisted with the freedom he found in overcoming the blank page. His book Trainspotting has sold over 1 million copies and is now a film.
Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one. – Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley, on the last count I found, has written 72 songs. Not bad for a guy gone songwriter/singer who was born October 28, 1972. He doesn’t write books that I know of, but he is a popular songwriter who overcame the blank page.
You can fix anything but a blank page. – Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts has written over 200 romance novels – Holy crap, that’s a lot of blank pages she overcame since she started writing in 1979. I love the tidbit shared on the website link. Nora began writing in a blizzard to overcome going stir crazy and she overcame the blank page. Encouraging to hear storms are motivating after all!
You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page. – Jodi Picoult
Jodi Picoult is 50, younger than me by a couple of years. She has written 23 novels and 40 million books in print. She shows up, writes and overcomes the blank page, she’s been doing so since she was 5 years old.
Ah…there you have it. This morning was the perfect time for me to read some motivational quotes about the blank page. If others can overcome the blank page, so can I. I may not write the perfect blog post, or a book, or a song, or whatever, but today, I overcame the blank page…and the temptation to just go back to bed!
