Writing about a writer’s block is better than not writing at all.  –Charles Bukowski

Ugggghh.  In case you haven’t noticed, things have been a little quiet.  Not by choice, but basically because of choices.  Kind of like no one gains 50 pounds by avoiding potato chips.  (Does that even make sense?  I’m pretty sure that’s not even a real saying.)  All foolishness aside, I’ve definitely hit a season of writer’s block.  It actually came on in the summer.  I could feel it (barreling at me like a big truck,) but I didn’t know what to do about it.  I figured if I ignored it, it might just go away.  (It could happen!)  It didn’t.

The experts say look for every opportunity to write.  Create goals for yourself.  Write, even if you have nothing to write about.  My solution to the whole problem was to create a blog series and force myself to write every day.  Every.  Single. Day.  I can laugh about it now.  What started out as a “Countdown TO Summer” became a “Countdown THROUGH Summer.”  Still, it was writing and they say some writing is better than nothing.  Ugggghhh.  (What do they know?  I wonder if they ever had writer’s block?  They think they know everything.)

It seemed like every time I sat down to write, nothing new or interesting was happening.  In reality, everything uninteresting was happening.  Time was marching on.  Life was moving fast.  And Food Network just kept calling my name…and you know that I am absolutely not a foodie.  So what gives?  I wasn’t watching to improve my cooking skills or to discover cutting edge cuisine.  I wasn’t watching because of some celebrity chef crush.  I wasn’t watching for the original programming (ha–that made me laugh!)  It turns out that nothing new or interesting was happening on the Food Network, either.  Maybe this is where misery just loves company.

Ok, it hasn’t been all that bad.  I found joy in painting.  (Painting furniture.  Painting my daughter’s bedroom.  Painting wall décor.)  I fed that creative drive with baking.  I took on a new project at church.  I watched (and continue to watch) a lot of baseball, softball and soccer.  I helped my son learn to drive.  I have racked up hundreds of hours listening to (and learning from) podcasts.  Still, it’s a strange season that I’m in.  One where I long to hear the clickety-clak of the keyboard, but  wonder if I have anything truly worthwhile to say.

Every writer knows that writer’s block is unavoidable.  I don’t want to call it a necessary evil, but it is a reality…especially now.  Perhaps, just maybe, this is how a writers knows he/she has arrived…yeah, I’m just going to go with that.  Clickety-clak, clickety-clak!

To give an appropriate answer is a joy; how good is a word at the right time! Proverbs 15:23