Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Fear of a white page

Many are those who advise on writing in any style. They give sage advice on the construction of prose beautiful and words dramatic. They inform of correct form and of function. They wield the red pens of spelling doom. They impart wisdom such as "Just write."

To those wised ones of literary Olympus I have two words: "Fuck You".

I wish I had a penny for every page of Microsoft Word I had opened and closed without one word being typed on it. Long are the total hours of frustration while it was just me staring at the white page. I offed that little paperclip prick a long time ago. I hate smartasses that don't know anything useful. I cannot abide useless people, even digital ones. Some of us must be inspired. Sorry, but that is the truth. I do not feel alone in this as I have historical precedent to back me up. One must be in thrall of the Muse some times to allow the words to flow. Other times we suffer the pains of mental constipation. Ideas and words wanting to move, yet being blocked by so much shit. Sometimes it is our fatal enemy distraction that drives the words back into our mists of thought. Just a quick email check, I'll just follow this one link, I'll just check on thusandsuch. Boom, idea dead gone, compost.

Sometimes the thought has yet to become firm, like some half set room temperature jello. It kind of wiggles and is kind of soupy at the same time. Words, not full sentences. Thoughts without that something. Incomplete ideas.

I ask myself questions like why do I write. I come up with many answers. I look at them harshly and throw many of them away as being convenient or just trite. I write to share. Not just stories but ideas and concepts. I want to make people blow milk out of their nose or noodles if milk is unavailable. I hope to make us look at each other and laugh a little bit and then laugh at ourselves even more. With laughter comes happiness and with that comes wisdom and enlightenment. I learned to tell stories from my family. We have a long tradition of storytelling and general bull ability. I think it is genetic. If you doubt that ask my friends who have met my Father and or my Grandmother. They can tell you honestly.

It's not my fault, I was born like this.

Till next time,
Be mindful and awake.

1 comment:

  1. You know, when it comes to creative writing, sometimes I find the computer can stifle it a bit. But then for me, the computer is where I do all my homework. For fun writing, I prefer to start with paper and pen. And I break out the good pens for that - the ones I only use on homework when I find using them stress-relieving, because I don't want to waste them on something like that.

    Not that I've written anything for fun in ages aside from blog stuff...

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