Start with what is near
Writing rarely arrives with a trumpet fanfare. More often, it slips in wearing yesterday’s sweater: the chipped mug by the sink, the overheard apology on the bus, the way late-afternoon light makes a familiar room briefly strange.
At Bethblaufusswrites, I’m interested in those small openings. Essays, observations, and stories begin there, with the ordinary detail that keeps tapping at the window until we finally let it in.
Try the five-minute list
When the blank page feels too blank, set a timer for five minutes and make a list called Things I noticed today. Do not explain the items. Do not make them meaningful. Just collect them.
- A grocery cart with one wheel that argued back
- A dog asleep in a patch of sun
- A text message I reread twice
- The first cold sip of coffee
- A song leaking from someone else’s headphones
Then choose the detail with the most energy. Ask it one question: What happened just before this? Write the answer without trying to be impressive. Curiosity is a better first draft than certainty.
Paying attention is not a warm-up to writing. It is the work.
Leave room for surprise
A useful writing practice should make room for the unexpected turn: the memory that appears halfway through a sentence, the joke that softens a hard truth, the question that refuses a tidy ending. Follow it for a paragraph. You can always cut it later, but you cannot revise a discovery you never allowed yourself to make.
I’ll be sharing original writing, essays, and notes from the creative process here. If you’d like more words in your inbox, follow along through the Substack and bring your own small observations with you.