Page One

If you open the front cover of any of my numerous notebooks, you're going to see the same thing: a blank page. I absolutely cannot handle having writing on the first page.

I've tried to come up with an explanation for this odd little quirk of mine, and these are the possibilities I've come up with so far:

* I'm a private person and I'm trying to thwart evil spies from accessing my ideas.

* I'm waiting to write the world's most brilliant idea on that page.

* Leaving it blank leaves a sense of mystery as to what may be hidden in the coming pages.

* The first page is the most likely to get ripped or smudged, and I don't want any of my sparkling ideas to be torn asunder.

* I don't want to be assaulted be my terrible chicken scratch when I open the notebook.

One day, when I was puzzling over why I have this habit, I shared it with my writers' group. My daughter Megan gave me a funny look, and then sheepishly held up her notebook to reveal a blank front page. I bet you didn't know there was a specific gene in our DNA about notebooks!

Does anyone else out there have a particular quirk about something similar? I'd love to hear from you.

Do you have any quirky writing habits?