Dec 27, 2000

Q: I have launched a website about Finnish running. I've promised to try to update it weekly, but I often have trouble thinking of subjects to write about.

How do you manage to make up a new subject for your column every month and your website every week? Is there some special brainstorming technique you use? (Aleksi Kolehmainen)

A: Almost daily I wonder, How will I fill the next column, or newsletter, or book? It's like a runner asking, How can I go out and fill the empty miles again today? Somehow they always get filled.

Practice at filling pages helps. I've written nearly every day for the past 40 years, and I know that the words nearly always come if given the chance to start.

In running, the hardest step is the first one out the door. In writing, the hardest word is the first one on a blank page (or nowadays, an empty computer screen).

My first steps in writing come in a journal where I make quick notes -- 100 to 1000 words -- on whatever interests me that day. Much of this isn't fit to print, but many of the ideas introduced there are worth exploring further.

I also get lots of help. Dozens of readers write to me each week. They trigger thoughts (just as you did here) and even sometimes supply material.

Finally, this is my job. I must keep writing to keep eating. That is a great motivator to sit down and start filling the blanks.

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