Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that you can't edit a blank page. So
Speaker 1: if you are writing something, just go ahead and get
Speaker 1: something down, because you can always make it better if
Speaker 1: you have something to work with. Today's tip is a
Speaker 1: version of a quote from Cass Sunstein, a professor at
Speaker 1: Harvard Law School and a prolific author. He was interviewed
Speaker 1: by Penn professors Angela Duckworth and Katie Miltman. The topic
Speaker 1: of their interview is behavioral science and public policy, but
Speaker 1: Duckworth and Moltman couldn't resist the opportunity to ask his
Speaker 1: secret to writing so much. His response, you can't edit
Speaker 1: a blank page, he continued, Sometimes I think to myself,
Speaker 1: I have a project and I don't have any words,
Speaker 1: and there's nothing for me to edit. So why don't
Speaker 1: I put words and then I'll have something I can edit.
Speaker 1: It sounds simple and logical, and as a writer myself,
Speaker 1: I can tell you it is wise. You can turn
Speaker 1: something into something better, but turning nothing into something is
Speaker 1: a different matter. Best to get past the nothing stage,
Speaker 1: So why not adopt these words which I have heard
Speaker 1: attributed to other writers, as well as a motivational phrase
Speaker 1: for yourself. You can't edit a blank page. The next
Speaker 1: time you are having trouble beginning a difficult project, just
Speaker 1: say these words to yourself. You can't edit a blank page.
Speaker 1: So the sooner you get some words down, the sooner
Speaker 1: you can get to what you will probably constitute the
Speaker 1: book of your work. Now, there are a few tricks
Speaker 1: to help you get past the blank page stage. The
Speaker 1: first is to lower your standards. First drafts are almost
Speaker 1: always terrible, so what carry on? Go ahead and write
Speaker 1: something bad. Another option for getting past the blank page
Speaker 1: is to realize that you don't have to start at
Speaker 1: the beginning. Start anywhere you have something to say, and
Speaker 1: then build around there. A third option is to plan
Speaker 1: to visit the piece multiple times. Let's hope you don't
Speaker 1: need to immediately publish whatever you crank out in the
Speaker 1: next ten minutes. If you plan for multiple sessions, that
Speaker 1: will lower the pressure for each time you touch the work.
Speaker 1: This might mean jotting down notes in one setting, writing
Speaker 1: in another, sitting and editing in a third. It might
Speaker 1: mean getting down ideas for a presentation in one sitting
Speaker 1: creating the titles for slides in the next completing the
Speaker 1: slides in the next setting, and planning your talking points
Speaker 1: in the final one. Once you get past the blank
Speaker 1: page stage, you have something to edit. Now you can
Speaker 1: make progress turning what you've got into what you would
Speaker 1: like it to be. But until you get to that stage,
Speaker 1: no real progress can happen, so best not to sit
Speaker 1: on nothing for too long. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.