How to always have things to write about

“Here’s a blank page. Now fill it up with something.” This is roughly how my days have started for the past several months, as I got into a daily writing routine. I’ve written before why I believe it’s key to write daily, so I won’t repeat myself to get more views. Only assholes do that.

But I want to touch on the point of finding things to write about. This seems to be a common question when I tell people that I blog daily. “How do you have so much material to write about?” The truth is, I don’t. I don’t know what I will write about until I sit down in front of a computer and stare at the blank page, trying to come up with what Hemingway called “one true sentence.”

In many ways, writing is like archaeological excavation: you start with the surface and gradually dig deeper, uncovering hidden fossils of thoughts, ideas, and feelings that you didn’t even know were there. It’s a great way to find out what’s inside. So there — I don’t write to share thoughts. I write to think. While the people who read me get to eavesdrop on the process of my thinking.

Sometimes I might have a half-baked idea I’d like to explore, so writing becomes a way of understanding what I meant by that idea. Other times, it’s just pure nothingness. And then something pops up.

It always does.

When it comes to any creative work — music, writing, painting — I believe the most critical aspect is having enough trust in yourself not to prepare. The school-taught type of…