Writing Off The Page

It’s been quite a while since I wrote here. Today, I’m doing a free write using an exercise that Natalie Goldberg refers to in her Writing Down The Bones (Amazon affiliate link). It’s called writing off the page.

Writing Off The Page Explained

Take a poetry book. Open to any page, grab a line, write it down, and continue from there. A friend calls it ‘writing off the page.’ If you begin with a great line, it helps because you start right off from a lofty place…..Every time you get stuck, just rewrite your first line and keep going. Rewriting the first line gives you a whole new start and a chance for another direction…

Today, I’ve chosen a poem by Julia Fehrenbacher that really spoke to me.

This Thing In You

​will not take no for an answer.

This that somehow 

shines strong 

beneath the heavy hard hurry 

of your conveniently 

noisy life. This shapeless

something that shows up
everywhere—
even when you forget
to notice.

It does not
understand safe
or sensible, will not let you get away with half-hearted lifeless lies.
It’s that wordless
something
that does not know how
to be quiet. It will continue knocking until you throw open
the door. Until you become

Ablaze. Awake. Madly in love.

​The dazzling artist of your own
wild life.

This thing in me will not take no for an answer. It pushes me to keep keeping on. It’s my need to write, even on days when I don’t have a desire to do that.

This thing in me, this relentless force, refuses to take “no” for an answer. It’s almost like it’s alive, pushing me to keep going, even when I want to throw in the towel. Even on days when my mind is slow and the words won’t cooperate, that voice in my head won’t be quietened!

I can’t help but feel this intense urge to write. This is more than just a passion or a hobby, trust me. Some days, I sit in front of the blank page, uninspired and drained, feeling like I have nothing left to say. But there’s still this voice inside me that says I’ve to keep creating, even if the muse doesn’t show up. The need to express, to release, to discover something new ….

I can’t help but struggle with the blank page, writing even when the words feel awkward or inadequate. There’s this invisible force that’s pulling me towards it, you know? It’s like it knows this is what I’m meant to do.

On the toughest days, when I’m feeling uninspired, this need to write becomes even more powerful, motivating me and reminding me why I started. Writing, even when it feels challenging or unwanted, is always the solution.

Would you like to try this exercise today?