Shouts From Down Under

New Page. Click to open a new Notepad page WAIT-THINK FIRST!

New Page is the link, in the notepad feature you get when you have an account on Writing Dot Com, to click for a blank notepad dialogue box.

New. A new start. A new opportunity. A new chance. A new exploration. A new experience.
A new try.

But there is a period between when we get that new chance, that new blank page, and starting to write something on it. That space of time when there is a tension. There is a huge heavy dump truck body above that page, perhaps in our minds that is ready to unload. Yes, take a massive dump (excuse the mind visual) of stuff right there.



Waiting. Expectation. Tension. Panic? Anxiety? Worry? Stage fright?



Is Missy Higgins song about suicide? I haven't Googled the lyrics and so just enjoyed the bits I did understand, but her video is thought provoking.

As a man, and I suppose it's programmed into me from childhood somehow, but I feel weak when (not if) I weep when listening to songs like this. Ok, not often alright? just in case anyone thought I was getting a bit soft in the head. (cough cough)

But like men not weeping, and being tough guys for too long, perhaps this (the pause between blank page and writing) is something we don't talk about enough.

If we spend some quality time sipping a brew, coffee, tea, Milo, Ovaltine, wine, beer, spirits or just plain water, and really nut out what it is; this period of time before we write; if we do this then perhaps we'll get more out of thinking on it than we thought. Hmmm. ?

Like eating a whole packet of Timtams at one sitting, which I'm guilty of doing without any inkling that this might be beneficial health-wise. No, I just good old binge-ate those chocolate covered biscuits all myself to drown out whatever it was I didn't want to think about. I wanted to think about taste buds, bud.



"You'll probably absorb fewer calories from eating a whole lot in one go than you would if you spread it out over the week."

http://coach.ninemsn.com.au/2015/08/28/10/43/youll-absorb-less-calories-by-smash...

How did we get from blank space to Timtams and calories and addictive substances and and and..?

Because I find one of the hardest things to do as a writer, is to give enough time, to wait long enough, to give enough priority to this thing of thinking. This time of working out what you'll write, what your message will be if there is one, what you want to achieve, who you want to impress, how you'll research it, why you want to write on the subject, what style will suit it, and all the other myriad of stuff that can influence the piece of finished literature.

We can't put the cart before the horse. That's not what I'm saying, and there is an error looming right there if we dither and basically fart about too long and try to nail down a piece of timber to another bit of timber before we've even bought a hammer and nails.

But we can still save ourselves butt-tonnes (I seem to have reverse inherited this saying from my daughter who spends way too much time on Tumblr. Yes, I blame Tumblr and stuff)
so, yes butt-loads of worry and confusion, and wasted time, if we stop for the right amount of time.

Between that blank page and adding text is an elastic span of space time matrix mixed with and coated by chocolate to resemble a Timtam. Unless you hate chocolate or biscuits (cookies - I have to grudgingly acknowledge) then compare the two.

If you squirt on ahead and start jamming words on the dang page, its like leaving the chockie bikkie there for some other lunkhead to grab and consume. Believe me, they will. Oh yes, nothing is surer than death and taxes than Timtam theft. I think all Timtam crimes should be immediately forgiven if it comes before a magistrate. (or blows for that matter)

Yep, you can take a little mousey nibble, a teensy bite, a bigger thumbnail size bite, a large chunk bite or half the Timtam. If you decide to eat the whole biscuit in one gobfull that's ok. I understand. Eyewatering maybe. But I get you. I get that chocolate taste and the sugary rush. The caramelley after glow and the... NO! sTOP! Stop. Whew. Calm yo'sef brother.

Yes, you can fill that period of time between blank page and doin that stuff / writing it down, in chunks like eating a biscuit. No, I'm not going to list the steps or do the boring old methodical thing. Far out you don't need me to hold your hand to eat a biscuit surely?

Thinking what you'll write should hold the same importance, however. All jokesies aside, Dad or actual funny ones. (hate the word actual but seems to fit here just once, sorry)
I believe you'll make or break your writing in this time frame.

Think of your writing like inventing an amazing new concept or item that no one ever heard of before. Will you just go into a workshop and start cutting up materials, drilling holes, welding, poke wires in and hey presto?

You'll have an ill fitting piece of crap that doesn't do anything. Everyone will laugh. You'll lose respect. And feel like a dill. And so you should. Dill.

Nope. You have to think first. Not later. Trust me. This applies to Timtams. If you don't be on the ball and THINK someone will 'ave 'em. You won't.

What about the guy who invented that building with the little cube houses attached by 4 bolts. They could be removed and replaced individually. Renovation time!

The same guy invented the Tokyo Capsule Hotel that I now want to go and live in forever. And eat noodles.



Now, what if, right? What IF the inventor hadn't nutted out for an appropriate time just what was the right and wrong things to include? What if he or she had just rushed the heck in and "pantsed" the thing?

While on this subject of pantsing, I get it ok? I get that sometimes you don't know just where the story will go, or you deliberately want to write open ended and see where your mind (and your bossy characters) will take you.

But really? You know what I mean. A few minutes even, just a few paltry pauses spent breathing, sighing, grunting, whatever! Just think those why's and wherefores of the most basic primal elements of what it is you'll write.

Because amazing things happen when you do think. Really deeply think on it. Even after it's written, and other people think on what you've written, they'll offer even more insights from another perspective, (and a more normal dimension where my material is concerned )

If I'd thought about this entry before plunging in willy nilly, I'd have made a dramatic announcement. But as it stands I'll just put it in at the end; here's an afterthought of bignormous news for us as a family, here in Taswegia land.

We have a new dog. He's 5 years old, he's a Golden Labrador and his name is Gruffalo - named after the children's book (and movie) by author Julia Donaldson. He has to shake paws or he won't eat his food. We are so thrilled to have him and he's already fitting in very well here. The only sadness was seeing the goodbyes from his previous young owner, and her family. But it had to be. And so now, while we still miss Honey (RIP) we now have a new terror for our 3 cats: Romeow, Frankenstein and Nidalee.

http://www.gruffalo.com/



Sparky