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Thursday, March 2, 2023

Lamentations of Writer's Block

I'm going to be utterly honest right now. I have no idea what to write about.

I feel like it happens to all writers eventually. Sometimes it's permanent, but often times it's not. Not every writer is a constant force of never-ending ideas. We burn out. We lose momentum. Or, we stop caring for one reason or another. Our day jobs, our families, our other responsibilities often take priority over our creative outlets. We put it on the back burner and we grow rusty. It's life. It's not a big deal.

But it's depressing.

Not having the drive to write when you call yourself a writer makes you feel like a failure, or worse, a fraud. How can you call yourself a writer if you're not always writing? How long in between publications before you have to stop calling yourself one? 

These thoughts are familiar to me, as they are to a lot of writers. We have a deplorable collective case of Imposter Syndrome in our community. No matter how much success we have, we will always secretly believe it's on borrowed time. One day, we won't have anything to write about. One day, we won't be able to call ourselves writers anymore. 

It isn't true. Don't let those kinds of thoughts consume you. Life is more than what you are good at. Life is more than what you'll be known for. If you don't have anything to write about because you're busy with work? Fine, put it aside. If you can't pick up the paint brush because you're worried about the rent, just don't. Cover it up for later. Live life until you have lived something worth channeling into your outlet. It's fine to have no ideas sometimes. You can relax. Just like I'm going to.

I'll see you all next month.

Stay Weird

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