a chip off the old writer's block

Okay, it's time for the talk, Self.

I've been noticing you're having trouble with writing. Not the physical act of writing: your typing is improving with practice & your penmanship is legible. No, not that kind of writing. The thinking part. The idea part. What is it, Self? What do you think is going on?

You're a writer, right? You write things. By definition, if you write things, you are a writer. If writers write, do authors auth?

Nice try, Self. You almost distracted me with that little tangent. Almost.

Back to the point: you write things. Yet you have writer's block. The definition for 'writer's block' (being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing, per Google search) suggests that you are, at the moment, NOT a writer. How does that work? You're a writer who writes, except that you're not a writer because you can't think of what to write. It all seems so convoluted, like Schrödinger had a hand in designing your situation. Perhaps we need a different noun to describe you? Or we need to use a modifier? A sometimes writer. That sounds accurate.

The people you choose to surround yourself with are highly motivated & appear to crank out written material with ease. How hard can it be? They've published. Certainly you could do the same?  Oh, right. You're stuck. Sorry, Self. Guess they're onto something you just can't seem to get your hands on. Them's the breaks. It's not like you have to write. It's voluntary. Why not just give up?

Oh, I had forgotten about that, Self. I forgot how miserable you can be when you're not writing ---how you feel like that incomplete puzzle with a single piece missing. I forgot how fulfilled you feel when you create a sentence that shares exactly what you meant to share. You're very strange that way, Self, but you are who you are. I'd like to be helpful. Let's see what we can do ...

Well, writing means that you're putting words together. Why not just start doing that? Oh. That's true. Chomsky did have a point with that whole "colorless green ideas sleep furiously" thing. The words you put together do need to make sense. That's coherence. Whatever you write has to be coherent or else it becomes confusing & boring to read. Then there's cohesion. Where would you go after a "colorless green ideas sleep furiously" sentence? No ideas of where to move on to from there? I'm not surprised!

Hmm ...what's worked in the past?

Twitter? Twitter can be helpful, Self, but it can also be distractingly fun. I know you're looking to write something longer than 140 characters.

Writing prompts? Oh, those are great! My friend, Deb Olliff, gave me this great book ---The Writer's Block by Jason Rekulak. Maybe that would help, Self? Here. Let's open to a random page: "Describe the first person who broke your heart. If you had the chance to take revenge on them, would you?" He had curly brown hair, a wicked sense of humor, & a Nine Inch Nails tattoo. And no.

Okay ... . Maybe a different prompt.

I know! Write about your experience with writer's block, Self! Surely, right now, at this moment, where you are stuck at 12,171 words of what you really want to write, you would have a lot to say on the matter! Maybe the act of writing about writer's block will help you chip away at whatever is standing in the way of continuing to write what you want? Give it a try, Self. Why not?