about to have written

the old litmus test for writers--"do you look forward to writing, or having written?"-- feels a bit like the catch question--"when did you stop beating your wife?"

is it really an either/or kind of situation?

ask the question on a writing forum and i'll wager one of the most common responses is one about dreading the blank page/screen, the empty, white, mocking expanse pulling feckless writers down to excessive drink and self-flagellation. i admit i've felt that same dread, but more often i feel a sense of freedom stretch out before me when i sit ready to begin a new story.

most freeing is sitting before a blank screen without any idea of what to write.

the potential is staggering. anything in the world, imagined and real, is up for fiddling. i'm giddy at the possibilities. i realize that whatever story i decide upon will not realize this endless potential; it's not the nature of storytelling to create a tale that remains open to every possibility--by necessity, we carve out the structure, pov, character, setting and plot to explore a particular question or complication. but just having that pristine moment before making the first cut is breathtaking. i'm there right now.

okay, moment's over. i'm off to the ritual finger-gnawing, hair-twiddling process of thinking up something worth putting on the block. i love this stuff.