Never Start From a Blank Page
The creative block is over,if you like . If you’re stuck with no ideas during a brainstorming session or project, you just need to use this simple system: consume things, take notes, and bring those notes with you. Here’s how to do it effectively.
Writer, performer and Christmas elf David Sedaris says his work is more of an acquired skill than a special talent: “Everyone has an eye for something. The only difference is that I carry my notebook with me in my front pocket. ” As writing teacher David Perell explains , Sedaris writes down everything interesting in his life, every random thought that he would like to explore. From time to time he sits down, reads his notes and copies good ones to his computer.
Sedaris doesn’t need to brainstorm when he sits and tries to think about things. By the time he writes something, he already has all these ideas, and it’s more a matter of choosing what not to write about. He can start riffing what he has already written.
After reading about it, I realized that some of my worst work started with a blank page, and my best work started with a large list of ideas that I collected here and there. Taking ideas from everywhere, I discovered what interested me and what I wanted to be a “temporary expert”. As I went through all of these ideas, I began to see connections that I could make, a structure that I could lay out. c – and I came up with a lot more.
You can’t prepare forever, and research ends up being postponed . Don’t try to collect everything you need for the entire project. Just collect what you need to get started.