The Snowflake Chronicles

Diagnosing Writer’s Block

Diagnosing Writer’s Block or The Last Time I had Writer’s Block
Lesson 6 Journal Entry

Word count: 396

The last time I had writer’s block, I swore it would be the last time I had writer’s block. I didn’t like the way it made me feel because I couldn’t even write an ode to coffee. I’m a coffee drinker, I love coffee; coffee is one of the few things in life I can enjoy with anything without feeling guilty. At least, that’s what I though until the last time I had writer’s block.

The last time I had writer’s block, I felt guilty because I couldn’t write an ode to coffee. I laid awake staring at the ceiling or staring out my bedroom window unable to sleep and unable to write. Normally if I can’t sleep, then I can write, but the last time I had writer’s block I could do neither. My inner critic told me I couldn’t sleep because I drink too much coffee. I couldn’t sleep because I had writer’s block and the more I worried about not being able to write the wider awake I became. Not only couldn’t I write an ode to coffee, I couldn’t write about insomnia. It’s terrible when you can’t sleep because you’re worried about not writing.

Then I realized one of the reasons I couldn’t write was because I was worried about not being able to write. The more I obsessed about writer’s block the worse it got; I gave up and I got out of bed. I went into the breakfast room and I opened my prayer book and started reading the prayers for tests and difficulties. Once I relaxed and stopped worrying about not being able to write or sleep then the writer’s block and the insomnia dissolved.

I realized that the problem was worrying. If I worry, then I can’t write or sleep. The more I worried the more difficult it was to write anything even a coffee poem. I still have a tendency to worry, but now I know how to take care of the problem. I read or recite a prayer and then I take action. Either I write or I take care the problem that’s worrying me.

The overall affect on my writing, is that now I know that writer’s block is caused by worrying and not taking action of some type. Sometimes the only thing to do about a problem is sit down and write about it.

Written in 2010