Writing Prompt #30: Blank

It's time for another writing prompt.

And I'm drawing a blank.

My mind is filled with packing and moving. Turning on electricity, gas, water, and trash for a house I won’t live in until September. Finding health insurance, finding doctors and dentists, psychiatrists and therapists. My mind tries to fill itself with anxiety and I try to flee the anxiety by reading or listening to a book, by streaming idiotic tv.

My social media are filled with politics. I almost chose SCOTUS as a theme for this challenge.

I just can’t. I am trying to flee all of that anxiety as well.

As I sat pondering this morning, drawing a blank on what theme to use, I realized blank is actually the very best theme I could choose. Some people think as I thought not ten minutes ago, blank equals empty, nothing. And I guess it does. I was putting a negative spin on it, however.

Just now I decided it doesn’t have to be negative. My move to New York, for example, is a blank in the sense of clean rather than empty. A clean slate. We’re erasing the chalkboard and taking a mulligan so to speak.

When I am fleeing my mind’s fear and negativity, I wish I could simply empty it. I wish I could sit and meditate and have a blank mind. I am not there. yet. The best I can achieve is to scribble over that yellow chalk with colored chalk and draw a new picture. I do this by reading or streaming. I used to do it by taking drugs. I do miss those drugs some days.

I do still take mushrooms, but most of the time the dose is so low I barely feel it. The psilocin somehow changes my neural pathways so I’m better equipped to be mindful of those anxieties. So I’m better equipped to erase the chalkboard and start with a blank slate. Of course, sometimes, I take a macro dose and see all the pretty colors on the chalkboard of my mind (and out of the corner of my eye).

Blank can mean empty as in not filled with gunpowder. This is the best spin on bullets. According to the Mass Shooting Tracker, the U.S. has had 382 mass shootings in 2022 through July 10. That number includes ten separate mass shootings on July 4. There are so many mass shootings in the U.S. the media just can’t keep up. The Supreme Court of The United States (SCOTUS) is loosening restrictions on guns rather than tightening them. In this instance blank is a very positive word.

Shooting blanks can have a less sinister, but still heart-wrenching meaning for many. Men who produce semen but not sperm are said to be shooting blanks. For those of us who desperately want children, this can be devastating. For those of us who choose to not be pregnant, having sex with someone who shoots blanks is one way to stay out of prison.

There goes SCOTUS again. We really need to fire most of those dudes and start over.

With a blank slate.

I wish we could replace all of the country's politicians. Just fire the lot of them. And start over.

What does blank mean to you? Is it a vast emptiness or an opportunity to start something brand new? Let's write about it!

1. Join the Promptly Jonica community here

2. Write anything about BLANK

3. Write 100% original content

4. Write at least 600 words for Rusty to be happy

5. Submit your article to PromptlyJonica

6. Tag me, @JonicaBradley

7. Have fun!

Please don't forget, that there is no time limit on writing any of these prompts. You can write any prompt, any time, as many times as you like, forever. If you want to check out all of the prompts, you can find them here.

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