Top Ten Causes of Writer’s Block

February 28th, 2008 · 5 Comments

…for this week.

1. Trying to read Proust’s Swann’s Way
2. Trial
3. Miley Cyrus being inescapable
4. Congress. I can’t explain it more specifically, they just annoy me. Alot.
5. Wearing hosiery (anytime, but particularly due to skirt suits in winter)
6. Bad shiraz
7. Parking behind a mini cooper that takes up two full spots on H street
8. The very large man that keeps taking my treadmill
9. Eastern Market being out of smoked cheddar
10. Winter. That. Won’t. End.

Please feel free to add to the list as you see fit.

5 responses so far ↓

1 Hannah // Feb 29, 2008 at 9:54 am

11. Facebook. The Internet’s greatest (and worst) distraction.
12. Pets. They’re just so cute, you can’t ignore them when they come at you with their tails wagging or throats purring.
13. Your boss. Because sometimes he/she can just bleed you dry of any and all energetic, creative inspiration or motivation.
14. Washington, D.C. This city is poetic to me for about six weeks in spring, and that’s it.
15. The obvious: a blank computer screen.

I once had a writing instructor share his secret to breaking a block—writing about it. Describing what the block looked like, felt like, smelled like, tasted like. A little odd, perhaps, but could be an interesting exercise…
2 Sarah Moffett // Mar 2, 2008 at 4:56 pm

Hannah~Your additions are priceless. D.C. is, to borrow your term, “poetic” for me in the fall. That’s it. And lately, that’s not been quite enough…
3 Linda // Mar 2, 2008 at 8:18 pm

to tag onto Hannah’s spiffy list…
16. Bills. The overdue ones. Especially the electric one because of the letters (from Florida!) threatening to shut off said electricity.
17. The day job. Specifically, the students. They don’t seem to understand the meaning of a shut office door…
18. Blogs. Too many to visit, and the entertainment is SO much fun that lingering is inevitable.

Here’s to Spring and the opening of the block… Peace…
4 Jarod // Mar 3, 2008 at 12:31 pm

To tag onto Linda’s groovy list:

19. Suddenly being thrust back into the 14th century, and - by the same pan-spectral mechanism that brought you back in time - your brain shifts to an average 14th century resident, and you suddenly can’t read or write.
20. The Kool-aid man keeps bursting through your wall.
21. You are tied to an alpaca, and he ain’t interested in your fancy book-learnin’
22. The world’s ink supply is stolen by a mad scientist. Then, just when you realize you can use a computer to write, he steals all the computers. This - of course - is followed by pencils, typewriters, etc. That fellow even steals all audio recording devices! In frustration, you realize it is perfectly legitimate to just give up.
5 Sarah Moffett // Mar 3, 2008 at 7:54 pm

23. Linda
24. Jarod

Sarah E. Moffett

Karma–what happens when you write a book about your family.