11:40 a.m. - April 13, 2006
The White Page
You know it was bound to happen.
Everyone experiences it at some point, but this is a first for me.
I knew it was time to write, and I saw the dreaded white page, and all of a sudden, I said to myself, �I got nothing! Nothing!�
Now, I DO have some things I�m working on � something for Easter (it�s going to be funny, I think, but it something that I have to get just right and do some research on), and a couple of other pieces. Next week, I�ll be in Baltimore at a conference, going to an Orioles game, CHAAAAADING (see Vicki and her archives for more info, and being a menace to society, so there�s next week pretty much wrapped us, as far as high (high?) quality (quality?) entertainment (entertainment?)
Some of the ideas just haven�t panned out yet, either, but I think they�ll work. Some of the ideas I just didn�t feel like writing about today.
I had a nice email exchange with Harri3t about Blogmad, and how after a while it loses its luster, gets tedious and above all, is geared for different idiom than what we have here. Smash also mentioned something about that. I think I�m coming around to their thinking.
Besides, I think I�m doing OK since my readership here has grown a lot recently, and I haven�t really bannered in a while. I�m just doing my thing, writing my thing, reading my things, and commenting, of course.
I may just be pissy because my rating score is going down. Heh.
So I had nothing.
I could write about how I stubbed my toe getting Katie out of the bathtub yesterday because she splashed water all over the bathroom, but I cursed about that in my Myspace blog.
I could write about how, for the first time, Kristin was more interested in her toy Elmo phone than saying goodbye to me as I left for work. You know, 10-month olds, they have their own agenda. But that�s just news-in-brief.
So the blank page was staring at me.
I posted a guest entry at freshhell and her spot, and when I read it I noticed a bad grammatical error that may be due to an email issue or the fact when I re-read and edited I jammed a couple of sentences together without properly looking at antecedents and all. Those antecedents will get you EVERY time!
I could write about some of my other friends around here. Some are up, some are down, but all are writing and communicating and doing what they do best. But me writing about their writing is rather, well, like cheating, or something. So just go look at my favorites list, or better yet, look at those who link to ME (as there are many more there) and read their stuff.
So the white page of death was still up.
Why not get some work done, then? Oh, I did. Then here I am again, waiting for a report to compile, and I still see the white page.
Why not talk about baseball, and the Cubs, or something like that? I have other outlets for that stuff, and may later do a long form piece about a baseball game (or two). There�s this incredible website called Retrosheet that has a goal of compiling the box score and play by play for every major league game, ever. Right now they�ve gone back to 1959, and have play by play narratives for many of the games as well. I am thinking about writing some of those games up here, but that�s for the lazy summertime, when it�s more like baseball season.
Besides, the Cubs usually give me a few panic attacks all season long, so why write about the pain and angst when you�ll experience it first hand? Why share the pain, the gloom, the suffering.
(Meanwhile, City Mouse and her Red Sox � she�s STILL gloating. Ah, well!)
I could always turn to my stand by � the 20 random iPod tunes. Ah, but right now I�m finishing a mix for Judith and it�s almost done, but I keep finding a song that I need to move, since I�m a perfectionist. Besides, I don�t want to ALWAYS play the iPod card, and I do have four or five more mixes that I need to do song selection on while I�m in Baltimore, so there will be time for that later.
(However, the live version of �Back In Flesh� by Wall of Voodoo is in my ears right now. It�s groovin�!)
I have almost decided the winner in my template contest, but it�s not the 15th yet and there�s still time. I don�t want to jump the gun! (But the design is super-duper cool!)
I could wish people that I know well, hope they�re feeling better after being sick, or hope that they don�t get sick. I could say that I hope I receive a phone call from a great friend who couldn�t call last night as she was trying to avoid getting the epizootic herself.
I could, but I just did, and you saw how much room that took up, right?
Then why write when the white page stares at you?
Well, for me, it�s a habit now. Five or six days a week, write a few dozen (dozen?) (I�m heckling myself � how lame) words and post them. It�s making me a better writer and communicator in general.
The white page isn�t scary. It�s not depressing. It just is � it is its own entity. So I�m not intimidated by the white page.
I�m just not used to the white page phenomenon.
Momma said there would be days like this. It�s a nice, unremarkable day here in the heartland. My friends like me, and I like my friends. (Wow, is that corny!) There�s soccer tonight, and Liz has a meeting so I have to feed the kids and put them to bed. I�m sure that�s fodder for something tomorrow � just not today.
But as you can see, I�ve muddled through and written about the white page. Just by writing about not being able to write, I�ve successfully written and wasted everyone�s time. Of course, that�s my goal in life, to be the #1 waster of everyone�s time, everywhere!
I think there is a message here, and the message is WRITE people! Because I want to waste my time reading your pages, too.
And Vicki, that goes double for you!
