How I Deal with Writer's Block

A few times per week I turn on my computer and load Microsoft Word. After a few seconds loading time a blank white space will appear on the monitor. Although the space only exists as an image of light and a tiny fraction of magnetic storage on a hard disc inside my lap top, nonetheless that space is a possibility. The entire history of writing and literature, indeed the very molding and evolution of the English language has merged with the wonders of modern technology culminating in the blank space before me that I can effortlessly fill with anything that I want. I can write the great American novel, or a few verses of poetry. I can write an instruction manual, a short story or a blog article. If I set my mind to it, I can write anything. That's just the problem sometimes with writing.

John F. Kennedy once said that it is easier to curse the darkness than to light a candle. Such is certainly the case with writing-it is easier to surrender to that snowy demon that mocks my creative barrenness and turn off the computer, thus admitting that I have nothing to say, than it is to declare war and fill the void with a distillation of my thoughts and emotions. In the days of handwritten manuscripts and typewriters nothing could be more terrifying of a prospect than a clean, white sheet of paper. Nowadays a blank word document will suffice.

I will say that in most cases I know when I have been defeated. When I truly have nothing to say I won't even bother. I certainly admire the disciplined writer who writes something everyday (I recall Philip Seymour Hoffman in Almost Famous as Lester Bangs talking about how he'd stay up all night on speed and cough syrup writing pages of swill just for the sake of writing) but that's not me. I can't stand the contrived and mediocre fabrications of my brain when it is searching for something meaningful to say. I fully recognize that all forms of art have a write to exist, regardless of their quality, but I abhor inferior writing, particularly my own. Thus in most such cases I will simply turn off the computer.