"I used to think there was no future at all, I still think..."

There is nothing more frightening than a blank, white page.
How do you begin? What's the first step? The future isn't written yet, there is no past for a frame of reference, there's just empty fields of white. You're trapped in an odd existentialist nightmare of your own making simply confronting it. What do you do with it? A common turn of phrase, an introductory passage relating the setting of your work, a humorous anecdote to put the audience at ease; which one do you choose? All or none? There are more ways, of course, an infinite myriad of ways, but how? How do you choose the right step?
There is no future. It hasn't been written yet.