A blank page can be quite daunting.

When you are writing something new, sometimes the hardest part is starting. Once you get something written, you can go back and revise it (and revise, revise, revise some more). If you have nothing written, however, you can spend hours staring at a blank page (or screen, as the case may be).

One writer describes writing a first draft as "throwing out the clay". Like a sculptor making pottery, you can't make anything if you don't have clay to start with. Your first draft is like that clay, throwing it out there on the wheel. Once you get a lump of clay to work with, you can massage it, sculpt it, change it, chisel it into a work of art.

Likewise, a blank page will get you nowhere, but if you have a first draft - some clay - to work with, you can mold the piece from there. Even if you end up mushing it all back up into one big lump, at least you are learning about what you DON'T want.

If you still are having trouble filling that blank page, just start freewriting. Write about not knowing what to write about but what you wish you could write if you had something to write about. Write everything you can think of that pertains to your topic. Just write SOMETHING - throw that clay out there and get to it!