Sometimes It's 'How' Before It's 'What'

The empty page before me now
The pen is in my hand
The words don't come so easy, but I'm trying

- Kerry Livgren, from "On The Other Side" by Kansas

This examinant ode to being stuck while writing always comes to mind when I'm, um, stuck while writing. I wonder, often impatiently, why ideas don't come when my conscious mind wants to create and express but my subconscious acts like it wasn't consulted.

Approaches to writing may vary, but I see it primarily in two camps. The one I historically belong to is reliance on motivation. There's just something you find that you have to say, and the writing becomes finding the best way to get across that which you just have to express. The other camp I have started dabbling with, what I call mining your experiences and interests in the hope that you find something that strikes your fancy. You're not particularly moved to write; you just sit your ass down and play with ideas or things that happened or how you see things that happened.

A songwriting book I once read by Kenny Rogers decried the former camp, stating that a certain writer of the First Edition's hit songs did not rely on "fickle inspiration" but on a regimented schedule of writing. My historic mistrust of that camp aside, I believe that it all depends on what you're comfortable with. So I'm dabbling with the mining approach along with the motivation approach to see if I can get comfortable with mining and still produce the level of writing I'm used to. And just maybe I can do away with the dry patches where I'm less inspired and can still create something worth the effort.

All this assumes that real life doesn't get in the way . . . as it does at least occasionally.

Never did decide what to say this time . . . just some thought on how to go about saying something, even when you're not sure and the mind starts as blank as the page.