Dearest Writers Block,
I really never thought I’d be writing a letter to someone (or something) that I disliked, but you, you writer’s block…you’ve wronged me too many times. Oh how I loathe you. You come in the middle of the night and steal away any ideas that I may have about anything. Whether it’s a potential plot line for a story, whether it’s an article idea, or even a character’s name, once I open that blank document or flip to the cleanest page in my notebook, that idea is gone. It’s not fair. Those are my ideas. They’re the things that I come up with and I spent my creative energy coming up with. I don’t understand your need for my ideas. What do you even need them for? You don’t need my ideas for anything? What do you do with them? It’s not like you do anything productive with my ideas…you just steal them away for the pure fun of it.
Do you even know my history with writing? Do you know how much you affect me? I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. I remember sitting in the corner of the playground with my notebook and sparkly purple gel pen instead of playing foursquare with my friends. I crafted stories of kids my age who were off doing fantastic things, just trying to escape the boring nothingness of everyday life. And you, writer’s block, you started taking these great ideas that I had (even as a kid), and have continued to steal my ideas ever since.
You’ve stolen my ideas for everything: essays, stories, character traits and ideas, and honestly, it’s not fair. What if I come into your head one day and start taking your ideas the second you sit down and start writing your essay? What if it was the night before an essay was due and I came in and just took those ideas from your head? Would that be so much fun? No, no, it wouldn’t.
Sorry about the sass, writer’s block, but it’s important. This is something I feel strongly about, and I honestly don’t think it’s very fair that you get complete control over this. I want to be a writer, and writer’s block is something I am going to have to deal with for the rest of my life. And I think that is absolutely ridiculous.
I think we should come to an agreement. How about we figure out a tradeoff system? Maybe you’ll only take ideas that come to me when I don’t write them down? For example, if it’s late at night and I come up with an idea right before I go to sleep, and I don’t grab my phone to write it down, you can have that one. BUT, if I do think of something during a class and I manage to jot it down in my notes, I get it. You can’t take that idea away from me. Even if I don’t find it for a few more weeks after that, I still get it. Sounds fair to me. What do you think, writer’s block? Do you think you can agree to that?
I think this is the beginning of a beautiful mutual tolerance between you and I.
Sincerely,
Lydia
