We’ve all been there at one time or another – me more than most I suspect – where you find a million reasons not to start that that book you have an idea for. Feel free to substitute any similar activity – we could be talking homework assignment, Powerpoint deck for a presentation, song, business pitch, etc. – you get the idea.
I’m reminded of a task where I had to analyse pages of raw customer shopping data and devise a marketing strategy to help a company leverage that data. I stared at a blank screen for hours, with no inkling of what to do and a growing sense of hopelessness. I eventually started scribbling down random ideas and the piece slowly started to flow. It turned out to be the best work I did that year.
Now as I tentatively add ‘science fiction author’ to my bio, I am once again faced with procrastination threats… which leads me neatly to the first of five strategies I use to help me through:
One of the hardest things to deal with is being faced with a blank page – it can be terrifying! The simplest way around this is to just start writing, even if you have little or no idea where you are going. It’s amazing how the simple act of putting words and ideas down on paper or screen kick starts the brain and before you know it, you are away and racing. Only sometimes that is not always true – it may take quite a while before you start to get to grips with the piece. The key is not to give up – your best work will often come from your biggest battles – as the saying goes “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it!”
Everyone has to deal with self-doubt at some time or another. Well you know what, if you have not actually created something you can’t be judged to be either brilliant, mediocre or clueless. Accept that the first efforts of even the most gifted are often merely average and that we only get to see the final article which may have gone through many edits and rewrites.
You have a general idea about the story you want to write, but the immensity of the task of plotting, characterisation, etc. are daunting and you don’t know where to begin. Keeping in mind the story you are creating, think of a scenario that might occur within it. Don’t worry yet about how it fits in, or even what led to it, just write down the facts. For example; ‘A woman tripped on the pavement. I stopped to help her up. She thanked me and dropped something into my pocket. Before I could react she had disappeared into the crowds. I pulled out the object, it was xxx…’ Now you have the fun job of trying to work out what it means and how it links to the rest of the story, because you are as intrigued as you hope your readers will be.
I was reminded of this saying many times as an undergraduate art student. Trust me, four years of life drawing classes drives the point home, but guess what, in time I learned to draw. They say the link between talent and practice is quite direct – the more you practice, the more ‘talented’ you appear to the rest of the world. Knowing this helps you realise that a blank page does not have to become a masterpiece, but the act of filling it will definitely help you on your journey towards creating one.
When all else has failed and you still cannot think of anything, grab a notebook and find a friend to talk to for fifteen minutes. Tell them what you are trying to achieve and don’t worry that they might have little or no knowledge of the subject. Scribble notes as you go. Transfer those notes onto paper or computer and start filling in gaps and expanding points – before you know it you will have a page of stuff. Then take a well-earned break and come back to it later, only this time the page is not blank and you have something you can start editing and knocking into shape.
So next time you decide that scraping algae off the inside of your fish tank glass is more important than writing that piece, just try some of these strategies and good luck!
RJ O’Connor originally trained as an aircraft engineer, spending his spare time racing motorcycles until a serious accident triggered a change of destiny and a degree in Fine Arts. He has still not learned his lesson though, and drives cars on tracks as fast as possible whenever he can. His adventures have led him to a career in airlines and telecoms, which have seen him fly aid, medical staff, journalists and even rock groups to destinations all over the world. He grew up in a small copper mining town in the heart of Africa before moving to what is now Zimbabwe and then finally to the UK, where he lives with his wife, two children and two cats in West Sussex. Their English cottage backs onto a Saxon moat.
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