Couldn't be me, haha
...
Nothing is more intimidating than a blank page.
To exist as an artist is to see the promise of a world of infinite possibilities, and fall short of your destiny every time, because the blank canvas has no equal.
It is only in this form that your work is perfect. On an empty sheet, in the backs of your eyes, in the notes of someone else's song, you perceive something truly special that deserves to exist. You know that it could, and you know you are the only person on this planet who can make it real.
And that unlimited potential can never be fully realized.
To create is not to divine something from nothing, but to shackle that precious idea to a reality that could never deliver upon its greatness.
Each word is the opportunity to fall short.
Each stroke is a chance to make a mistake that does the immaculate vision a disservice.
Each line written or drawn or scored is a brick in the wall of the prison you are building.
But the cruel truth is that the blank page tells no story.
It will tell you all this and just as many lies. 'Your idea will never be the living, breathing thing it deserves to be'. 'All the effort and all the talent in the world will never let you share that vision'. 'From here, you can only fail'.
It will look you in the eyes, and tell you to look upon its works, ye mighty, and despair.
And they will yield not a single word.
And so, I fight.
I will sculpt a window into my perfect world.
I will beat each and every heart within it with my own bare hands.
I will tell this story to its completion, where that lying promise never could.
I will imprison this creation within a home to be proud of.
I will leave this blank page as something better than I found it.
And if, at the end, my hands aching, my body exhausted, my voice hoarse from screaming into this yawning and unforgiving void,
If one person looks into that window and sees even a fraction of what I see within,
I will be content.
Because, perhaps foolishly, perhaps vainly,
I will hope against hope their own page will begin to fill.