It appears innocent and unassuming, fragile, thin, and benign. As a popular culture icon, it is formidable. It induces anxiety, fear, panic, and feelings of inadequacy.  The blank page reduces creatives to blithering idiots, incapable of action. Alaa Al-Aswany expresses it well in the following video when he says writing is the “conflict between what you want to say and what you could say.”

Perhaps we should shift our thinking, channeling Michelangelo when he said, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there; I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” Maybe our story is there, fully written, and waiting for us to release it.

Staring into 2020, with its unlimited possibilities, we can find ourselves frozen, afraid to move. Any good writer holds their story’s plot in their mind before they face the blank page. Likewise, goals serve as the structure for our lives as we take bold strides forward. Step by step, we advance, aware only of an ephemeral dream, an imagined destination, and an image of what we are meant to be.

What path will your goals create in the new year?

_________________________________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer