I get that feeling a lot – I think about writing something, and nothing comes up. I’m on empty. I’m scrapping for any idea to spark an idea, or any knowledge I have to fill up the page.

Why?

Experiences and writing go hand in hand. Writing in of itself is a byproduct. It’s a way to communicate an idea, a reality, knowledge of some kind. Without that idea, what’s there to write?

Unless it’s fiction. But even fiction has an element of reality to it. We don’t stray too far from what is familiar. Most bizarre things we can imagine are conglomerates or transformations of things already real to us.

That’s why I believe that reading is the foundation of writing. In order to write well, you have to read well. It’s through the gain of experiences, knowledge, and so forth that we are able to reinvent it in our own minds, and then pour it onto a page.

So, as a note to myself, the next time I’m attempting to write on “empty”, I should probably fill the tank by reading something first.