The French call it “le syndrome de la page blanche” (“white page syndrome”). In English, we call it writer’s block:
“A usually temporary psychological inability to begin or continue work on a piece of writing.”
— The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
When the “unconscious self is vetoing the program demanded by the conscious ego.”
— Victoria Nelson
“… stay[ing] a whole day with your head in your hands trying to squeeze your unfortunate brain so as to find a word.”
— Gustave Flaubert
“There may be a stretch of weeks or months when it doesn’t come at all; this is called writer’s block. Some writers in the throes of writer’s block think their muses have died, but I don’t think that happens often; I think what happens is that the writers themselves sow the edges of their clearing with poison bait to keep their muses away, often without knowing they are doing it.”
— Stephen King
“… [W]riter’s block is simply the dread that you are going to write something horrible.”
— Roy Blount, Jr.
That pretty much sums it up. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not calling myself a WRITER with a capital “w” … I’ve never even written anything longer than a short story. But writing for je parle américain has become my pastime, my catharsis, and my therapy. The problem is that, lately, I’m just not doing much of it, and I don’t know how to start back. Continue reading It’s Not You … It’s Me.
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