The Dreaded Empty Page
It is the one thing a writer fears most, or so I’ve been told, and never quite identified with. An empty page, to me, means opportunity and the leap into the unknown. Or it did, at least, until I opened the empty page on this blog and now, while sitting here with the word document open before me, feel like I’ve been slapped in the face by a severe case of brain fart.
I have never been particularly good at talking about myself. Or rather, I have never been interested in doing so. Not because I have nothing to say, but rather because I am one of those people who always dread the limelight. I had to force myself to open social media accounts for this job. My Instagram is still empty because pictures are the worst, and my Twitter quietly trundles from tweet to tweet in a very, very irregular pattern. I call myself storyteller (and I stand by that, no matter what) and yet am entirely incapable of telling my own story. It is much easier, truly, to write about other people – especially when they are fictional.
The scary truth, however, is that I cannot afford to be nobody in this industry. Not if I want to turn my storytelling into my career, and at the end of the day, that is the endgame. The big (un)attainable goal. So here I am, facing the blank page on a blog, typing away, hoping it will all make sense and not bore you guys to bits. Apologies in advance, should you truly die of boredom while reading this.
Blogging feels very much 2019. People do podcasts now and feeds, and God knows what, but like I’ve said, I will avoid shoving my face into a camera whenever I can – and words, after all, are my forte.
The life of a writer, if they do it correctly, isn’t all that exciting I suppose. Especially not while starting out. Days largely consist of quietly sitting in a room, hopefully writing, but more likely staring at the screen until our brains quietly suggest to just burn our computer and be content with a “real job”. You know, like normal people. I’m sure all you fellow writers our there can relate to that. And if not – tell me your secret! Please! The truth is that most of us will rather do anything else than write. I have rearranged my trusted plot-corkboard more times than I can count. I have done courses on marketing and SEO contents; I have watched countless interviews with writers I admire and even more interviews with agents and publishers to learn about the industry. I have taught myself how to build a website, how to design a book cover, and how to battle the revenue office (I have lost that battle, unsurprisingly). I have quite a solid plan for marketing and an equally solid plot for the second novel – and I’m not working on any of it.
The dreaded empty page, again.
I have found that I am much better at coming up with excuses, than getting into it. And I have decided that that simply doesn’t fly anymore. So here I am, sitting in my parents’ living room, with the current winter sports coverage on TV (my mother loves ski jumping), braving that empty page, that, fortunately, is no longer empty. What do I plan on doing with this blog? Truth be told, I’m not entirely sure yet. Share my progress. Share the little hiccups writers can run into. Share my opinion on various writing matters. I’d be thrilled if some of you decided to tag along. And if you so happen to find what I write relatable, please do get in touch and let me know!
