May FEATURED WRITER'S DIGEST ARTICLE

The Cold Open: Facing the Blank Page by William Kenower

It’s any writer’s greatest fear: Facing the blank page with no ideas to get started. William Kenower shares how to get into the right mindset to begin writing and find your muse. 

I’ve been writing six days a week for more than 25 years. For the last 10 years my schedule has become so clocklike that I am predictably at my desk by 6:28 a.m. I never miss a day unless I’m traveling or it’s Christmas. I also always write something, whether it’s a complete essay or part of a chapter. Yet every time I sit down at my desk, whether I’m working on a book or a blog, I am never in the mood to write. In fact, I often begin my day’s work with this thought: I’ve got nothing.

It’s true. That’s my starting place nearly every morning. I believe, in fact, it’s where every writer who writes with any regularity begins their day of work. In my experience, it’s absolutely normal, if not inevitable—and while I have worked and am still working to master many aspects of the craft and business of writing, it’s the beginning. Those first minutes at the desk before anything’s happening—before any ideas have come, when I am stone-dead cold without a single ember of interest in my mind—require the most discipline from me, as well as remind me what it means to be human.

Because I am a human first and a writer second. This is always the order of things. I have five senses and I like to use them—indeed, I must use them if I want to get about in the world. I need them to drive my car and walk from one end of the living room to the other. I need them to have a conversation with my wife; I need them to know if my tomato sauce needs more sugar, or if my lawn needs mowing. I can imagine many realities, but I cannot really imagine living in this world without at least some of my senses.

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