A blank page is the natural place to start writing, But as I sit looking at the crisp, new page I always get nervous. ‘You’ve got nothing to say.’ ‘You start your journal the same each time, it’s boring.’ ‘That’s not your authentic voice.’ I worry that I will waste a page in my beautiful sketchbooks…that i’ll look back and be embarrassed about what I’ve written…that I sound like a whiner, or a looser or a try hard. Getting started is so hard, and this anxiety has often beaten me and stopped me from writing at all.

I’ve always thought that using the laptop wasn’t for me, that I am more suited to handwriting and journals – but I really lack in organisation skills, and my journals always end up mixed up. I’ll write in one for a few days and then won’t write for a while, and will then switch to a different journal. It a shame, because I would love to have a neatly stacked pile of moleskins dating back to 2012 when I first started writing leading up until now, telling my story. It would be wonderful to have detailed accounts of my life up until now. BUT! I don’t – so the next best thing, is to continue my story in a space where I can find some order, look back through the years and collect memories. I have a good feeling about this new variation on a blank page. I am hoping that there will be less pressure to create something perfect and enable me to have some fun with writing.