Curse of the Blank Screen

It sounds scary. And to be honest, just thinking about it gives me the chills.

OK ... breathe deeply. Try to relax. Try ... to ...

I can't! It just won't work!

So I do whatever I can to avoid it.

Folding laundry, having a junky snack, reading, going for a walk because I'm nowhere near my 10,000 steps, riding my bike to a park to gaze at the colorful leaves, watching old sitcoms on TV, getting lost in social media, making excuses.

The list is endless and ... um ... not blank, if you know what I mean.

This bone-chilling fear of an empty screen is something I face up to every time I write one of these newsletters—or try to be creative.

It taunts me till I just can't procrastinate anymore.

So here I am, trembling almost, yet determined to vanquish the demon.

Are you with me?

(And yes, I'm sure I came up with this week's headline because because Halloween is around the corner.)

A Zombie Called Tabula Rasa

Whenever I approach a blank screen, I'm reminded of the latin phrase, tablula rasa—an empty or pristine slate.

To me, those words conjure up the image of a Zombie (me) staring glassy-eyed at the bright, white light in front of me.

In search of an idea. A phrase. Something to get me started.

But instead, I'm immobile. Unable to move my fingers across the keyboard yet at the same time glued to my seat.

I first encountered the bone-chilling idea of a tabula rasa in the fifth grade.

It was the start of class. My teacher, an imposing woman with bright auburn hair and a big voice came into the room, glared at us without saying hello and bellowed: "It's no secret I've had negative encounters with many of you before."

Big pause. In addition to her pedagogical duties, she was known as the hall monitor of doom.

She held up a blank piece of paper. "This is a tabula rasa," she said. "It doesn't matter what happened between us before, I'm wiping the slate clean."

The other students and I all breathed a palpable sigh of relief. But the whole event was shocking for a young, impressionable mind.

Now, I'm not blaming my teacher, but let's just say the empty page evokes an undercurrent of terror I still feel today.

Trick and Treat

And so whenever I start a writing project (like this one), the ghost of a memory rears its foreboding head.

And becomes like the ghoulish house you want to avoid when you're trick or treating because you know if you ring the bell, it might come to no good.

But starting today, I'm going to try to approach that irrational fear of blankness from another angle.

And that will be my trick: to magically transform a menacing screen from a punishment into a bright ray of imagination. Possibility.

I can tell you from experience, it will not be easy.

And this is where I need your help. If you have any tricks of your own on how to vanquish the fear of beginning, please share them in the comments.

Now, it's time for my treat.

At least, I hope you'll look at it that way.

It's the latest Digital Marketing Trends video, where I offer a round up of what's new on the major social media platforms, including setting who can respond to your posts on Twitter, monetizing Facebook Live events, and updating your business profile right from Google Maps or Search.

Don't be afraid to check it out and let me know what you think.

Connect with Martin

And now, we've come to what is hopefully a not too scary conclusion to issue number 17.

As always, thank you for reading and subscribing! I appreciate you being here.

And please share your own horror stories about blank screens and procrastination and how you overcome it in the comments below.

Be sure to reach out if you have questions about any of the videos in Digital Marketing Trends, or my other LinkedIn Learning courses.

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Happy Halloween!