The Curious Case of Writer’s Block

photo © Calvin and Hobbes

I haven’t been writing. I could blame it on the whirlwind of life after turning 25: A promotion at work, trips home to Maryland, surviving Hurricane Sandy, the holidays, a Ravens Superbowl Win (!).

But if I’m being honest, I’ve had a horrible, dire case of writer’s block. It’s a pretty strange concept for me; My entire life, I’ve written. I wrote stories and plays as a kid, poetry as a high schooler, essays in college and the beginnings of many (admittedly bad) novels after graduation. And I’ve been a blogger since high school, and since then I’ve blogged and blogged and blogged, up until…I just stopped.

According to my self-diagnosis, the cause of my illness is that I’m now doing lots of writing for work. And don’t get me wrong, I am loving it—I’m living the American writer’s dream of getting paid to brainstorm and write and edit, and it’s great fun. But by the time I get home and want to put some thoughts down just for me, all the ideas and creativity have been soaked up.

My condition got so bad that I decided to check out the Gotham Writer’s Creative Writing Workshop one Saturday last month. It was brilliant: Someone giving me innovative assignments that inspired me to finally bring to life all the characters that run around in my head.

During our lunch break, I walked around the neighborhood and came across the Church of St. Francis Xavier. It’s a breathtaking, baroque-style church, and the architecture was so stunning that I had to peek inside. I was surprised to catch sight of a bride, fluffing up her white veil with her left hand, a bouquet of red roses in her right, before the doors closed. Through the glass, I could see a procession of bridesmaids in scarlet dresses making their way down the aisle in front of her, and next to her, a silver-haired man in a black tuxedo raised his hand to wipe away a tear.

It was the kind of New York moment I instantly knew I’d never forget—and it also made me desperately miss my blog. It reminded me that there are too many fantastic things happening every minute in this city, and that I want to share as many of them here as I can. So, I’ve decided, the treatment for said case of writer’s block shall be: Just freakin’ blog, already. I’m back and ready to write. For real, this time. See you soon.
xx AGD