Writer’s Block Is Scary

By Maria Silvo

For the first time, I face a writer’s block, a term I so regularly hear but paid no attention to.  I guess when something strikes you at an unexpected time or when you need something done and you can’t, it is when you really pay close attention to.

No matter how hard I try, nothing comes. My well has dried up. I’m facing a dry spell … and I ask myself “why?” What has caused this?

The past days, I had been really focused on a set of activities for one book publishing project that I want perfected. I’m enjoying it and, in a way, refuse to leave it for something else. I find switching from that to writing this post difficult and that may have contributed to my writer’s block.

This new situation has led me to read about writer’s block and a handy definition is Wikipedia’s that define it as follows:

Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some “blocked” writers have been unable to work for years on end, and some have even abandoned their careers.

If one is relying on writing as a profession, experiencing writer’s block is horrible and downright scary. I don’t want to be in this situation. Once or twice is good to teach me some valuable lessons but on a long-term or permanent basis? That would mean death.

There are several reasons that a writer experiences a block in his/her writing process. Some of these are as follows:

• Loss of inspiration;
• Distraction from something that the writer feels is more important;
• A writing project or assignment that is beyond the writer’s ability that it causes anxiety or way below the writer’s ability that it gets boring;
• Adverse changes in a writer’s personal or career life such as physical illness, depression, death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, financial pressures, sense of failure, natural calamity;
• Pressure to get things done on a specified time;
• Pressure to outdo one’s previous work that garnered acclaim.

What do I do to unblock my writer’s block?

Nothing complicated really. It just means dragging myself to put pen to paper and finish this piece on writer’s block. That should knock it down!

As an author or writer, have you ever been bogged down by writer’s block? How badly and, if ever, how did you deal with it?

I would love to hear about what you have to say.

You may read through me in my kiddie books at Amazon:

The Unwanted Stone

Oolie The Owl