I have nothing today.
Words are just not flowing. Thoughts are not resonating.
Typically when that happens, I go back to stuff I’ve written in the past. I have a slew of old posts that I unpublished while cleaning up my blog, intending to review them and determine whether or not they still “work.” And I have a good number of thoughts I’ve fleshed out but never edited and published.
Usually, working with one or the other triggers my brain, and I can at least edit, if not write fresh.
But not today. Today is a nothing kind of day. In fact, it’s taken me over 30 minutes just to get this much out. I’ve been tempted several times along the way to just give up and go pull out the vacuum cleaner. (If you knew how much I dislike housework and would typically rather stare at a blank screen than clean, you’d know just how empty that means the brain is today!)
But I’m committed to reestablishing a habit of writing. And today is blog writing day. That means staring at the screen and coming up with…something. Even on a nothing day.
Maybe that’s as much a part of the process as actually writing. Maybe “nothing” is as important as “something.” Maybe the nothing days force me to take time to exercise the muscles that need to be stretched in order to produce something days.
Or maybe it’s about learning to rest more effectively. It’s tempting to blank out on nothing days, but I don’t think that helps. I think it hurts. So, perhaps from a writing perspective, resting is more about just rambling through a blank screen than about taking a break from writing.
I don’t know. I don’t really have an answer. I’m not sure I even have a good question. After all, it’s a nothing day.
So, here’s my nothingness. Rambling so that I don’t just blank out. Posting so that I reinforce the habit I’m working to rebuild. Putting forth words that really don’t have any significance on their own.
All in hopes that next time I’ll have something.
Not Quite Ordinary 