Reflections on an Empty Page

As I sit with pen in hand, ready to face the stark, white reality of the empty page, I find myself consumed with thoughts that pull me away from my task. "Am I writing out of passion?" I wonder, "or am I writing to fill a need?" The sheer bluntness of the question brings instantaneous guilt. It also sends my mind off in a thousand different directions.

I can't help but think of Laura Ingalls Wilder in her prairie home… eyes darting quickly across the rough pages as her crude pen scratches f...