Writer’s Block

Nothing seemed to sound right. I had worked on my writing project for hours. I typed a while, read what I had written. I deleted, rearranged the words and started over.  Still nothing worked. I had developed a serious case of writer’s block.  Professional writers tell us amateurs that the remedy for this is to just keep writing whatever comes into your head. The medicine didn’t work. Exasperated, I gave up—at least for the day.

I began writing and the flow of words seemed to spring from a fountain and arrange themselves on the page.  My goal is usually to write two thousand words a day.  When I finally hit “Save,” the word count was over three thousand.  Ecstatic does not do justice the way I felt—I was absolutely giddy.  I went back to the computer and wrote my frivolous reaction to my accomplishment.

On a whim, and at the urging of the Clarkesville Writing Society, I submitted it to Writers’ Journal as filler.  To my surprise and delight, it was accepted and published in the March/April 2010 issue. Here is my only attempt at poetry—and I use the word “poetry” lightly.

BREAKTHROUGH

  I wrote three thousand words today; the writing was not fun.

My computer called me to itself and held me lest I run.

Characters marched through my head, their deeds in sharp detail.

I saw them cover page by page and felt my fingers sail

Across the keyboard at a pace they never sailed before.

Hardly could they win the race as words came from my store.

I wrote three thousand words today. I’m bragging, yes, I am.

I busted through a writer’s block as thick as Hoover’s Dam.