The Opposite Of Blank

I was talking to Big Anklevich today and found out he's firing on all cylinders (or proceeding on all thrusters, I don't know sports talk) with his new story, already up to six thousand words.  When he asked me how mine was going, I had to return my head to its primary position: hanging in shame.  I had an idea, but no words written, no character names, no ending, no twists, no feelings of creativity, etc..  But he urged me to go for a walk (or run) and think about the story, and maybe I'd come up with something.

I heard once (or thrice) that "A blank page is God's way of showing you how hard it is to be God."*  I've always thought it an idiotic quote, because, what?  God walks around with writer's block?  The whole idea of omnipotence kind of precludes feeling dumb or uninspired, doesn't it?  But ah well, whatever gets you out of bed and on your way to work.

So, cut to tonight, when I went on my run.  Instead of listening to YouTube videos, movie trivia, politics, or talk show comedians, I turned on music (one of those ninety minute compilations that's supposed to make it so you don't have to keep selecting new titles . . . but still has commercials every three minutes).  And that has helped me thinking in the past, so I pushed Play, stretched for forty seconds, and went.

And the ideas just started to flow.  I already knew how I was going to start it, but that solidified as I came up with a character I could get behind (yeah, he's me, as usual, only much, much more successful in life, which puts him at the end of his rope).  I came up with a second character who would be important, and how that would lead to the inciting incident.  thought of a fun twist for the middle of the story, and stopped running long enough to laugh about it.  Of course, I didn't know where the story was going, or how I was going to end it, but I still had half a mile left in my run . . . and right before I reached my street, I knew how I'd end it.  

And though it's not going to win the contest, it's a tale unlike most I have written (except, ironically, the last time I entered this kind of contest), and seems like something I could be proud of.  So, in just a twenty minute run, I felt like I was staring at the opposite of a blank page, and like divine inspiration, the pieces seemed to simply fall into place.

Now all I have to do is write it.  As easy as that sounds. 

*It's a Sidney Sheldon quote that goes, "A blank piece of paper is God's way of telling us how hard it is to be God."