Writers' Block

 A psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece of writing

 

That, is an understatement. One thing everyone leaves out in the writing world is the infamous writers block. They don’t tell you how crippling it is, when one day you realize that you just can’t write anymore. How much it hurts when you stare in at your piece of paper – or screen – and your mind just turns blank. No one ever talks about that time when you just need to write, and you’re having the block. They don’t say how it’s like to write without a passion, joy, and the privilege of being able to so much as think. Or, when writing feels like torture.

 

No – all these things, they tell no one. The immense suffering, the months of living with a blank mind… hidden from the rest of the world. They tell you the joys of writing – the freedom, and how great it feels to express your feelings, but they don’t tell you that the block takes your emotions away with it. With creativity, comes emotions – at least for me – and with the block, I am nothing but a shell.

 

There will come a time, during this block, when the thick fog is lifted from your mind, and word by word, a sentence forms, then, one paragraph – two, three… And just when you think the worse is over, and you’re finally starting to breathe freely again, you shut down again, and like before, the fog surrounds all corners of your mind, leaving you no space to explore, and no way to overcome it.

 

The worst part of it all, is when it ends – when one day, you realize that once again you can write, but not the way you want to. It comes in a gush – the inspiration, the characters, the words – all of it. There is no control, and there is no stopping it. All you can do, is pray this blessed version of torture lasts.

 

This, is an illness that comes only with being a writer.

Author's Note

A story that for once, I wrote from a personal experience. Been suffering from writers' block for about 8 months now, and I'm not sure if it's over yet, beginning to be over, or still there.

The difinition at the top is from dictionary.com .

Reviews

[Randa]

Nice story...though I know a few writers who say it doesn't exist. It's only a matter of opening up an exercise book and forcing oneself to write whether it be a journal, and exercise, or a creative piece. Just the act of writing.
This piece itself, cute. There are a few places where the writing could be tighten up such as "when one day you realize that you just can’t write anymore." when isn't needed, neither is that. It could be my own professors have drummed it into my head about why is that word there. What is the purpose. If it's unexplainable. Delete it. I do understand the heartache of not writing. I wish you would've explained in more detail about the emotional and physical pain of not writing.

[Dalebear]

Good write

[Ashleyx]

haha i loved this one, it completely embodies writers block, and how much it hurts. ive been feelin it latley, and luckily it went away. its always weird how it comes and goes, and its true what you said, you just lose your passion, and it sucks. great read i really liked it. :D

[WriterMe]

Hmm.. A writers block is basically the in-ability to write something. Be it anything. But you just did! You just wrote some thing, which was fairly brilliant! I could relate to everything you just said. I suffered a writers block for umm..... 2? or 3 years?
I began writing only when someone forced me to. And I realized, its not that the writers block cripples you from writing, but this whole mental state your in.
But then again, that might be just my perspective of things. And when I get a writers block, I usually end up writing a story about a girl who has a writers block and how she gets rid of it. It helps me. Maybe you should try it too.
And I still think your block has been cured after reading this piece.
Oh, and
They don't tell you how crippling it is, when one day you realize that you just can't write anymore.

Wow, yes that is SO true. Kudos to that sentence.
---Niki