Someone once told me that there's no such thing as writer's block. I can't remember who told me that, but I'm sure it was someone of some authority - probably a writer - because I remember taking it to heart and thinking that they must be right. They said that it's a term someone made up once upon a time, which countless writers since have clung onto as an excuse. "I would be working on my novel, but y'see, I have writer's block. So I can't." They said that it's funny how quickly the block lifts when suddenly you have bills to pay.
Maybe writer's block does exist. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, I've given up using that excuse. I will freely admit when I'm being lazy, and now is one of those times.
The thing I always say about writing, whenever I'm feeling lazy and I need a more profound excuse to cite than laziness to get me off the hook, is that it tends not to hit you instantly. Whether you know much about art or not, you can look at the Mona Lisa and decide that Leonardo da Vinci was a talented artist; whether you know much about music or not, you can listen to Mariah Carey belt out a number and say those dolphins ain't got nothin' on her. Witnessing both of those art forms takes a few seconds. In fact, here's my proof: click here to witness da Vinci's Mona Lisa, and click here to witness Mariah Carey belting out a tune. Unless you have a dial-up connection or your internet is going through one of those freakishly slow stages, I'm sure that took you less than a minute to view both.
Whether you like the Mona Lisa or Mariah Carey's vocals at all is a matter of personal taste, but you know they both require talent. How far into reading War and Peace do you have to get before you decide that Leo Tolstoy's got something?
OK, War and Peace is an extreme, but you get my point. How many people might come across this blog entry someday and decide they can't be bothered to read it? How much are we as writers overlooked, and how much do we as readers overlook the writers?
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