midweek musing: (more) on writer's block

on waiting for inspiration and redefining "routine"

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How about an impromptu essay this Tuesday night?

(I was listening to John Mayer’s new radio show and cleaning up my office and well, here we are.)

I’ve been thinking about writer’s block a lot since writing about it a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to that essay, I learned that quite a few readers here are in the throes of final’s week and other end-of-year deadlines and confronting that strange, horrible feeling that you have to write but you also cannot write.

I know I offered a few roads through that feeling, but I want to offer up another take, too. One informed by the worst case of writer’s block I ever had. One that I thought a lot about as a dissertating PhD candidate during the pandemic. I had to write to get this project done so I could graduate. But every time I sat dow, to write, I found I could not write, despite doing everything right.

What do I mean by “right”?

• I had set aside dedicated, uninterrupted time. Sometimes, I even took a day of PTO from my full-time job, just to sit and not be able to write.

• I had put together my notes and I had done literally all the reading. I could not have read any more on my topic.

• I had reviewed my chapter progress thus far, all the dozens and dozens of pages, and I knew where I needed to go next.

And then, I’d sit down, and I’d stare at my screen and…nothing would happen.

So. Here’s a little story about how I got through it and finished the damn thing.