• Ha! I Have Beat You, Blank Page!

    So, I’m sitting at my quiet desk in my quiet home, staring at the blank page. With the children at summer camp, for six whole hours, I no longer have an excuse as to why I can’t come up with the right frame, the right theme for my article, now past due.

    My husband emails, giving me a temporary reprieve. I tell him what I’m working on, and assure myself, by assuring him, that although I am thinking deeply about how to begin, “it will come.” (Note: he ahsn’t even asked, so this is pretty much my pep talk to myself, but, the thing is, I know it’s the truth, I’ve been through this 100 times.)

    The thing is, it always does come. There’s so many things you can do to get that first word rolling. I’m writing an article on a Latina business woman for a Latino-targeted magazine. So, I pick up my copy of PINK magazine, to see how some of their subjects are framed. I recall that I have an issue of Working Mother in the recycling that could probably offer the same corporate-profile type ideas.

    I start chopping her interview answers, and then I read them aloud, instead. I take out my highlighter and mark my favorite pieces, so that I can be sure to incorporate them into quotes. I pull up the magazine I am writing for, and search their archives.

    I am stuck on title and framing of the interview (which tend to go together in my mind, in my personal style and tone), and so I decide to skip it and begin playing with her interview questions right off.

    Once I pick up on her personal message, I can cut the excess verbiage, which enables me to see her more clearly. Her message easily arranges into a great overarching theme, and VOILA! I’m rolling.

    I write the first draft (it’s really short) in less than an hour, and am quite happy with it.

    That’s how I beat today’s blank page demon. 

     

One Responseso far.

  1. Leo says:

    Well done, Allena! I’ve faced that demon many times myself and know how tough he can be.