Greetings, writers—
Toni Morrison did not believe in writer’s block. “I disavow the term,” she said1. The poet Danez Smith doesn’t buy it; nor does Judy Blume. Nora Ephron never had it, and Alexander McCall Smith called it “a load of nonsense.”
I tend to agree with them, but that’s only because I'm using a very strict definition of the word block. Do I often sit in front of the computer for hours upon hours without being able to type a single sentence? No. But have I begun and completed every single household chore I could think of in order to avoid sitting down in front of that terrible computer, that mangled half-novel? Of course I have.
Which is why I think the better term for most writers would be “writer’s avoidance.”
Or else simply “the process of writing.”
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