"I Have Nothing to Write About"

Among the many writing workshops I attend and the one I facilitate, I hear this common theme. Someone, when asked to write about something from their own life, will say either nothing big ever happened in their life, or they don't have a lot to write about these days. I will give the first excuse more credit than the second one, but they are still both excuses. Therefore, I thought it best to point out why these reasons just don't fly with me. 

First, let's talk about nothing big happening in someone's life. At face value, I can appreciate what they are saying. They don't have this big, landmark adventure in their history to talk about. They never pulled someone out of a burning car, jumped a motorcycle across a canyon, saved Nakatomi Plaza from the ruthless plans of Hans Gruber, etc. That's fine - those stories are very rare anyway, and often exaggerated anyway. However, those stories aren't requirements for writing about something from their own life. The only requirement is to have an event in your life that you remember - then write it down. It could be the disappointment of discovering all the Diet Coke is gone, waking up in the morning with an inexplicable bug bite, or getting drunk with your friends and ending up face-first in a toilet - again - at your local bar. Those are all stories that you can write about. No, they are not likely to become screenplays or an eight-part limited series on Netflix. However, they are honest, frank stories of life that will help you hone your writing chops.

The second excuse - not having a lot to write about these days - is a redirection from the point. As writers, it is our job to see the difference in every day, whether we write about it or not. We are supposed to tease out the details and discover what makes everything unique, funny, entertaining, scary, boring, mundane, or whatever we choose. The various events of one single day in our life all have a lot to work with, and they are all unique. And before you mention that you're kind of in a rut where one day just bleeds into the next, well, that's an amazing subject to write about. Describing repetition, monotony, and the endless tedium of existence is a challenging exercise and also a great way to pull ourselves out of that rut because we examine just what has us bogged down. Again - probably won't end up on the big screen, but it gets you writing, and anything that you write is worth the effort because you've pressed your skills just that much further.

On that note, I am venturing into a challenging area of life. Tomorrow I am going to the hospital and donating a kidney (the left one if you're curious). It is promising to be an exhausting process, and it might pull me away from posting my twwice-a-week writing commentary for a little bit. However, do not doubt for one second that I will not be writing about it once I get home. The only catch is that I might not be posting regularly while I recover. Consider yourself forewarned.

Now get writing!