Writer's Block -- Fact or Fallacy?

There are three camps of writers when it comes to writer's block: the folks who say it exists because they're constantly suffering from it, the ones who think it exists because they've had some troubles writing, and those who say it doesn't exist.

I'm in the third camp: the camp that says writer's block is a wonderful bedtime story we writers have made up to explain our lack of productivity.

Let me explain. Writing as you know (if you do this for a living or do it with any regularity) is work. It's hard sometimes to sit at the page or computer day after day and write something that sounds decent. Authors battle with internal editors ("That's crap -- why did you write that?"), doubts, and negative feelings. Many authors battle with depression and other disorders. So, when we finally get to writing, we sit down and stare longingly at the white screen and realize that our favorite rerun of Hogan's Heroes is on TV Land and we have to watch it. Or maybe we're going to meet our friends at the local coffee shop and bitch and moan about writing.

The truth is writing is work. At some point if you want to be a writer, you must write. That's a really simple concept and yet it's one that eludes people constantly. People will tell me they're a writer and yet, when the final word count is tallied up, they simply don't write. The truth is that they like the concept of being a writer, but don't like the work. It would be like me telling people I'm a bungee-jumper, but I'm terrified of heights and certainly wouldn't jump. Those who simply can't get started because they don't have the toolkit or don't have the ability or motivation to write simply call it writer's block and go to the coffee house and tell their friends they have writer's block (who nod sagely at this announcement) and order a double-shot mocha latte. Again, it's too hard to get started, so why not take the easier road?

Then there are the pros who get so-called writer's block. A favorite author of mine, Douglas Adams, used to say he loved deadlines because he loved the whooshing sound as they flew past. And yet, when his editor forced him to rent a hotel room and put their desk in there and sat with him, he managed to crank out a novel in a month or so. Again, it's not a block, per se, it's procrastination, laziness or whatever you want to call it. When held at editor-point, Adam's could write a book.

This form of "writer's block" is what I call the "psyche-out." The author looks at the project and seeing it as such a monumental task, despairs and goes to buy a half-gallon of fudge ripple (or gin) to drown his sorrows. The author is a typical INTP or INFP on the Meyers-Briggs personality scale and can't see organizing himself long enough to finish a project.

There are other reasons for not being able to write, none of which I would ascribe to this mythical dragon known as "writer's block." Most have to do with just not having any idea what to write. That's not writer's block. You could sit down and write something if you had to but for some reason, nothing is clicking. So you stare at the page and ended up in this self-feeding watermelon situation. Namely, you could write something -- anything -- you just don't want to or you haven't done your research, or whatever. If I were to give you a writing prompt, you could probably write something, even if it's utter dreck. So saying you can't write is more of a mind game than anything.

But there is something that saps you of creativity. Depression is possibly the worst drainers of a writer's creativity and yes, if you're depressed you're not going to write. Let's call it what it is: depression. You're not going to get much accomplished when you're depressed. In this case, you need therapy and you have bigger problems than just writing. I remember after 9-11 being sapped of creativity. I had some work that I did get done, but I didn't write for two months. Then for two more months, I wrote Prophecy of Swords. I've found that unpleasant things are the biggest detriment to my creativity and I just can't write when I'm upset.

James Frye, the author of How to Write a Damn Good Novel II likens the writer's block to a bricklayer's block. I won't go into the story, but in essence he says that it's just an excuse for not writing. I understand this all too well. Some days I don't feel like writing on a particular piece so I move onto another. That's why I have so many projects going. I know I've got to work on something. The truth is I've written hot and I've written cold and the quality of the work is about the same. Sometimes when it's like pulling teeth, I actually write better. Go figure.

We writers tend ot have a vivid sense of imagination and at some point, some writer wank came up with the term "writer's block" because he didn't want to finish on deadline. He might have actually convinced himself of it (we love to psyche ourselves out, don't we?) and may have been so convincing that his editor bought into it. Well, folks, there are thousands of writers out there making a steady living in this trade who don't get writers block. I mean, what would all the newspapers, magazines, and other publications do if their writers were to plead writer's block at deadline? I can tell you what the editors would do! Find writers who didn't have this problem.

So, there's my take on writer's block. I could write for hours on the subject, but I've got some work to do...