There comes a time in most writers’ lives when the dreaded “Writer’s Block” rears its ugly head. You writers know what I’m talking about. That awful “I can’t write a thing” block which sometimes starts one day and can be devastating to a writer. The longer the block lasts the worst it gets. It is the time where finding something to write about is like pulling a tooth from an un-sedated and angry tiger.

My first and only block lasted a week and it was the longest week of my life. It started early one morning when I sat down to type and nothing came. I thought of a word…I typed it…but the next word didn’t come. Nor did the next hundred or so words come. I stared at the blank paper.

I explored more options. I read the paper. I watched the news…but there was still no way that I could develop a plot from anything I’d seen or done. My creative soul was slowly dying. I groaned.

Later on in the day, I sat in front of my computer and froze. What if I never was able to write again? What would I do? I need to write to keep my sanity. I need to put into words all the things that life has thrown at me.

As the week went on and I experience more inability to write, I went into panic mode. I really pushed myself to come up with something and found myself falling into a deep abyss that threatened to end my writing days. I couldn’t even write my grocery list, let alone a serious picture book that had all the necessary elements in it. While many non-writers think writing a picture book must be a piece of cake, those who write them know how much of a challenge it can be to move the story along in an exciting way that satisfies the reader.

My family, though very supportive overall, couldn’t understand why I fretted so much. “You’re working yourself up over nothing,” they gently chided. “How hard can it be?”

“Not hard at all when I’m in the zone,” I returned with a bit of an attitude. “It’s horribly hard, almost impossible when I’m like this!” I grumbled, before storming out to work off my irritability.

As the week went on, I was more and more miserable and so were my family and group members unfortunately. Every afternoon and early evening for that week, I sat in front of my computer... and sat some more. What little I wrote made no sense to me. My trash can overflowed with my foiled attempts.

Frustrations built with each day that passed. Finally, on day five, I closed up my latest attempt and shut down my computer vowing to never write again. I had never had difficult writing. It had always come easy for me. Now I couldn’t even write a decent first sentence, let alone a full article or story. I was finished...done as a writer almost before I began. I walked away with tears streaming down my cheeks.

For me this terrible time came to an abrupt end on the seventh day. I went to the mailbox and received a letter from a colleague that I had done some editing for. She was over the moon because the piece I had worked on with her was accepted for publication. While it wasn’t my success, she couldn’t stop saying how much my advice and help had improved the article. I was so happy for her that I went in and sat down to begin writing.

The words flowed easily. I couldn’t type fast enough to keep up with my thoughts. I was in writer’s heaven. The block was gone. I did a little happy dance around my living room.

The lesson I learned the hard way was the more uptight I became about having writer’s block, the more likely it was I wouldn’t be able to write. Once I relaxed the words flowed. That lesson was not an easy one for me. As a child, my mom used to joke that when our maker was handing out virtues, I managed to skip patience line at least three times. Thank goodness, I have gotten better.

So, if you suffer from writer’s block...just relax and let it happen. Before you know it, the words will come and you’ll be off and running on the road to publication.

© - 2007 Kathe Campbell