Today, you will do it. You repeat it to yourself like an ancient monastic chant.

“I will write. I will write.”

You sit down. You open the blank document. The cursor blinks.

So much white space—so much potential! But where to begin? And how? It taunts you. It threatens to drive you mad.

So you fling yourself away from the keyboard with the cry “I’ll try again later!” on your lips. But you know you won’t. Because you are trapped. This is Writer’s Block.

Over the years, I’ve had many encounters with the so-called Writer’s Block—a cavernous, abysmal stretch where the writer cannot seem to write anything, or at least write anything well. There are no new ideas, no sense of confidence, and most notably, no motivation. Once a writer falls into the Block, it can seem impossible to get out.

However, I once interviewed a published author and asked him how he dealt with Writer’s Block. He said, in essence, that the Block is nothing more than a beastly, fictional concept writers create as an excuse to stop writing. He mentioned he didn’t even believe in the Block. It struck me like a blow to the jaw, but then I realized he was somewhat right.

As a writer who has spent many-a-month shackled to the Writer’s Block, I found it hard to believe it was something one could just sort of get over. Once in a slump, it can seem like writing was never enjoyable at all. These are moments of existential crisis fraught with self-depreciating doubt and despair.

Quite the downer.

But the reason I kept my author friend’s advice for all these years is because I knew he grasped something of the truth. Writer’s Block made me just plain mad, and because this author had accomplished his dream (and my own) just by punching said Block in the face, then there had to be something to his words.

I decided to try it. In my recent Creative Non-Fiction Writing class, which I have mentioned before, one of the textbook authors stated that creativity was more of a discipline than anything else. Natural talent helps, yes, and passion is an absolute must for someone who wants to actively pursue a writing career, but without discipline—then the writer is in trouble.

As someone who is generally undisciplined, it was downright challenging. But there is hope. For one, discipline is entirely possible. People use it all the time to lose weight or finish a project or do things like clean the litter box every day. These are all disciplines, and they all work. Writing, as unpredictable as it may seem, can be a discipline as well. Every serious writer will say the same thing: if you want to get better, make it a habit. Write every day. Rearrange schedules, put off doing laundry. Cancel other plans, if you have to. Make the discipline a priority.

In addition, the bottom line is that passionate writers will not stay in the Block forever—it’s impossible. We can’t stop new ideas any more than we can stop the weather. Even if we fall into a spell where harnessing creativity seems impossible, it is worth putting ourselves through a little critical self-evaluation and effort to make it possible again. It is worth anything if we truly believe Writing is what we are meant to do.

Now another hard truth—it won’t be easy. It never is, having to dig oneself out of a slump. But writers are built on an innate determination. By nature, we are designed to pour out our hearts and then expose them to others. This same nature spawns passion, and nothing can squash this passion, not even ourselves. Not even the formidable Writer’s Block.

It is a dragon just waiting to be slain. The only thing left to do is to go out and slay it.