Sometimes the blank page feels like a bright black hole—strange, otherworldly, and indecipherably alien. And when that chasm stares back at you, you might fear that anything going in there will go nowhere. But if you’re a scientist, you don’t fear black holes as much as revere them.
Scientists keep looking into strange anomalies until they’re anomalies with form and shape—decipherable bodies that soon may lose anomaly status altogether. Even black holes exhibit patterns when examined close enough.
Black holes spin—sometimes fast, sometimes slow. They can even appear hairy, or bald as a billiard ball. Some emit powerful jets of gas that rip off nearby red giants’ outer layers and demote them to dwarf status.
In other words, black holes are amazing wonders of the universe. They’re powerful. So is the blank page.
Let it teach you its shape and form. Let its dark mysteries reveal themselves to you.
The next time you fear the blank page, or find that the chasm of an unruly draft feels bottomless, don’t shy away. Become an obsessed scientist. Let that strangeness be a beacon, luring you in.
Observe what you see. Even how you see.
What if the very thing you’re afraid of can become your salvation.