Why I am writing about writer’s block? Because I have nothing else to write about. Why do I have nothing else to write about? Because I have writer’s block.
To quote Franz Kafka, who was renowned for his cheerful and uplifting quotes: “A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.”
While I disagree with that (because as a writer, I’d like to believe I’m not on the brink of madness just because I occasionally have trouble writing), I interpret his quote a little differently, a little less drastically. The writer who can’t write is not entertaining madness, but is bottling up her creativity and her thoughts, and few things can be more detrimental to a writer than shutting off the valve of imagination.
That’s why writer’s block is such a nightmare.
For several days, I had been laboring about what to write about for this article. I bounced back and forth between a number of topics, from Syrian refugees to Community GIFs, and everything in between. When I settled on this topic - writing about being unable to write - I laughed at the irony, but quickly realized that writer’s block is about more than being unable to write.
It’s a feeling with which most people are unfamiliar. At some point in most people's lives, they’ve sat down and struggled to write a dry research paper for a class, yes, but the writer’s block of a true writer is different. One trite way to describe it would be this: It’s like someone has a hand around your throat and is slowly squeezing the life out of you. Writing is my ultimate catharsis, my favorite pastime, and my greatest passion. When I’m unable to do it, I feel like I’ve lost my purpose. Dozens of ideas and thousands of words become trapped inside of me with no release, and sometimes, no matter how valiantly I struggle to remove these creative blocks, it can take weeks for me finally to be able to write again.
Few things bring me more pain or frustration than wanting desperately to write, but staring at the blank page for hours on end with nothing good to write down, like sitting in a therapist’s office but suddenly being unable to speak.
And, as much as I wish I could conclude this article by saying I found a method by which I could overcome my writer’s block, I have yet to do so. It tends to ebb and flow. Some days, no words come at all, but other days, I go on writing jags, and produce several pages before stopping for a breath. It all depends. There is no end-all solution to writer’s block, but there is one clichéd piece of advice I will always follow: just write something every day.
It doesn’t have to be good. You don’t have to fall in love with it. You just have to put the words down.
