on Helping Writers become Authors:

To be a writer, one must do two things: write and, perhaps surprisingly, notwrite. Usually, we champion the first and demonize the second with much fear and trembling, giving it dread labels such as “writer’s block.”

The implication is that, for a writer, not writing is about as bad as it gets.

The truth, however, is nuanced.

I have been waiting to write this post for a very long time—four years, in fact. I have been waiting because I knew it was a post I could not properly write until I overcame my own lengthy writer’s block and could speak about the lessons it was teaching me. From my perspective on this side of the desert, I know it is a landscape I did not traverse alone. Many writers—I even dare to say most writers—experience significant writer’s block sooner or later. I am writing this post now for those writers who are currently struggling with significant creative blocks and also for those who may encounter this phenomenon later on. Perhaps you will remember this post and take heart, not just from the lessons I will share in a moment but simply from the fact that my writer’s block came to an end—and so will yours.