On Writer's Block

I have a confession. Very recently, I suffered from a devastating bout of "writer's block." I include the quotation marks to imply (unsubtly) that I'm not a huge fan of the term. In fact, I dislike the term so much that until this summer, I refused to acknowledge that it even existed. I scoffed at colleagues who claimed to have suffered from this…whatever-you-want-to-call-this-awful-thing.

Then I caught it. It starts insidiously. I used to tell people who asked: "Come on! If you're having trouble writing, crack open a novel—just read—and you'll get inspired!" I still believe the advice has some validity, at least when not proclaimed by me with an idiotic smile. But when I found myself reading fourteen hours a day and writing zero hours, I became concerned. (On the plus side, I did read a lot of great books.) It's sort of like those "Expect Delays" signs you see on the highway when you've already been stuck in traffic for five hours…Yeah, no kidding. We're delayed.

So now I pose: Have any of you ever suffered writer’s block? Please share. You know…if only to make me feel better about myself.

Daniel Ehrenhaft
Author of Drawing a Blank