How Might We Banish The Fear of the Blank Page?
Or how can good enough be the basis for our creative experiments?
There’s a very simple answer to this question, despite the underlying fear being complex and based on diverse issues.
They boil down to, “will it be good enough?”
And by extension, “Will I be good enough?”
The truth is that zero is zero.
As the cliche goes, doing nothing is the only real failure.
Fear of the blank page is beaten by not starting with a blank page.
Nicolas Cole starts with a structure
Templates and processes reduce the mental work of starting any project. I used them constantly at Microcosm and in my day job.
Even when I’m painting I’ll mark the canvas immediately.
Now it’s imperfect.
Now I’ve begun.
I’ve gone from zero to one.
Ev Chapman uses a writing inbox
And a full blown creator system built in Notion and Roam Research, that I lie awake at night envying. Yet, your system can be as simple as an idea log.
Capture them before you lose them.
On paper.
In an app.
Or your own form to Notion workflow.
Let them marinate in your subconscious.
After they sit, review and purge what doesn’t excite you.
Pick something and write anything. Move the needle. Get a shitty draft out.
As Bob Merckel puts it
“Most first first drafts are piles of crap. It is easer to edit garbage than to face a blank page.”
Start with a half-baked idea and polish it. Get off of zero.
And so does this first issue
Why am I writing about this?
Because I’ve suffered from perfecting my first issue for months.
Or worse actually, I saw this while fiddling with my settings (instead of writing).
2 years and 30 minutes to start.
I’ve spent months (over)thinking about what to write about first, how to say I’m going to be trying things, sharing things and learning things.
It’s not going to be perfect, but it will be fun.
Because I’ve learnt this last six months, the best way to focus myself is to drop what isn’t fun.
I only have a couple hours a day, in tiny slices, I can’t spend those on what doesn’t light me up.
More to follow
I like experimenting and testing and learning from data.
I will apply 20 years of design experience to fiction (have skills will use them).
I like Notion, and templates, and making products to scale my value, contribution and income.
I founded Microcosm and I’ll include our community updates as well. The 💯 Story Challenge and our themes, prompts and top stories.
This newsletter will go premium at some point when its worth it to you. And I hit the metrics Substack suggests. I’ll be transparent about that.