Having Nothing To Write About.

• Conor O'neill, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2016

"Not having anything to write about is the beginning of coming up with something to write about. Not having anything to write about is having a clean slate, something to create anything you want. It may be hard to come up with the first idea, but ideas have branches. Branches into branches into branches. And all you need to do is to branch. Branch out from that original idea and choose your way. That single idea, whether it be simple, complex, random, weird, thoughtful, splits into potentially millions of other ideas. Ideas and stories. Not having anything to write about means that there's no space being used. The page is completely focused on this one idea. Or any section of an idea. Ideas triggering memories which trigger completely different ideas. Not having anything to write about means that the groundwork needs to be laid. The base idea. Once that groundwork has been laid, you can build on the site. This takes time, great ideas come with time. They don't happen spontaneously, they don't happen in an instant. They take time, and effort. It takes effort to do anything. Whether it be as little as bothering to do a chore, or as great as exploring the universe. Branching out from our home planet. Finding other places to live, to sustain our race. Our story. Our ideas. Branching out to sustain our ideas. Keep our ideas alive, keep them fresh and relevant. Something years in the making and has never differed, never branched out from the original idea will have lost the inspiration behind it. It needs to change as we change. Change for the better, change for necessity, change because life was boring. A twist. Problems solve themselves eventually, they won't hang around forever. The fun part is, what you influence on the problem and it's solution. The problem: Not having to write. The solution: Having something to write about. Your influence: What you write about. We influence everything, or have influenced, or will influence. Every little thing we do matters. It may not matter when compared to something larger, but it still affected something. Our choices, they influence things. Our choice: To write something. Writing something matters. It could change you. It could change whoever reads it. Depending on how many people read it, it could change the world. Or it could create. Create a club, create a religion, create a belief. These come from a story. The story comes from an idea. The idea comes from having nothing to write about."

"Jeez Dave, I asked for something to write about, not a 400 word insightful speech".

"Sorry".