Sometimes you just can't write. I mean it seems like it should be easy, right? Just sit down, grab the pen and let the words flow. But it's not. It's difficult sometimes. Lately I've been struggling with the curse of "writer's block." I'm almost hesitant to write that down, because it seems to just hammer down the truth of the matter: My heart is wrung dry of creative, witty words. But sometimes that can actually be a good thing. Because when the truly inspiring stuff doesn't come easily, you're free to write truth. Let me explain this from the beginning.

Writing is really hard work, and sometimes we tend to be too hard on ourselves. We see others become successful, whether that's in freelance, journalism, or publishing a book, and we just can't see how our own writing is progressing. We feel stuck, and like our writing is sometimes not "enough." But it is enough! If what you write is genuine and real, it's "enough." Stop judging yourself based on what you see your other writing friends posting on Facebook or Instagram.

Writer's block compounds this problem of comparison. The longer the block the more you start to doubt that writing is for you. For those who don't write to live and live to write, let me put that into perspective. Writing is how we communicate. It's how we express what's on our hearts and how we keep it from bottling up inside. If we don't write, we become fidgety, flighty, and full of brain fog. So imagine what it's like to suddenly lack an inner voice that says, "Write, write I say!" You want to get it out there, but you stare at the blank page and just can't think of anything to fill it. It's terrifying. Your inner compass is off, and you feel so lost.

But then it hits: The truth of it. Maybe writer's block is just our souls telling us that it's time to write the hard stuff. The stories begging to be told, no matter how hard they are to swallow. Maybe it's time to write the paragraphs that sting and the sentences that lack the finesse and showmanship. Honesty is at a premium in our society. We have politicians, bosses, doctors, professors, and numerous other people in professional positions that choose to lie, and cheat the system. They don't tell the truth, and sometimes we see that in wordsmith. How many times have you purchased a book, or sat down to read an article you were really looking forward to only to realize that it's all fluff. It lacks substance. Maybe the plot was thin, or there was no true climax. Maybe it was a nonfiction and it was all water under the bridge, everything you had heard before, and not the life-changing substance you were craving.

What I'm trying to say is that we try to dress up everything we say, and write, for that matter. We don't realize that honesty is what the world is really craving. Here we are, hanging a flashing neon sign on our words when our peers are really craving simple, black and white truth. So maybe writer's block is just your soul telling you that it's time to throw away the pretense and just tell it.

So the next time you're sitting at your computer or in front of the page late at night and the words won't flow, the screen is blank, and the ink has run dry, try listening to your soul. Hear that whisper? It's calling you. It's telling you that truth is hard, and it takes time and power to write. Your well hasn't run dry, you just need to dig deeper. The truth is there, the honesty is there. It's waiting to be written. It's waiting to change the world.

"Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer." – Barbara Kingsolver