Writer's Block

    My name is Laura Winters. I wanted to enter this writing contest because. . . My pen stopped. Why did I want to enter this writing contest? Because I’m competitive? No.  Because I enjoy writing? Well, that is true, but it sounds so weak. Because I knew I would win? No, that’s so arrogant. Then why did I want to send it in to be judged? Because writing is my passion, and I want to share it with the world. But isn’t that why every writer sends their work to be published? After all, if they didn’t want to share it, why would they send it in? My pen hovered over the paper, daring me to answer the question. Suddenly I wanted to stop, to tear up my submission and forget about it, to apologize for thinking I could.

          Just then, my mom came into my room.

          “Hey, Laura. Why aren’t you working on your submission? I thought you enjoyed writing, sweetie,” she asked in her sweet voice. I was paralyzed, torn between telling her and not telling her. Should I tell her that I couldn’t think of why I wanted to send it in, or should I just tell her that I was taking a break? Well, the break sounded like a cheap, see-through excuse anyway. Here goes nothing.

          “We have to say why we want to enter the contest, but I can’t think of my reason. Maybe I should just tear up my story and forget about entering this contest.” I mumbled the last part, but Mom heard it nonetheless.

          “Ah, you have writer’s block. Yes, I understand. Well, think about it, and maybe it’ll come to you. Why not take a break? It is lunchtime, and maybe you just need to eat something.” I decided to try and see if a break really would do me good. Mom and I went downstairs and made ourselves sandwiches, and I thought about a reason. For the first three minutes, I was still stumped.

          Then, it hit me, like any inspiration did. I raced upstairs and grabbed my pen, writing furiously.

          My name is Laura Winters. I wanted to enter this writing contest because I want to help eliminate writer’s block. I smiled, proud of what I had done. Mom came upstairs and looked at my entry. She smiled too.

          “See, Laura? Anyone can escape writer's block if they think long and hard enough.”

Reviews

[Jobyn]

Aw, this was a good read.

I have trouble with both writer's block AND procrastination. But it's mainly the block that gets me...

Sadly I don't think it's something that'll be eliminated anytime soon. Not for me, anyway!

Again, great read, nice way to show how the block affects us all :)

[Tomislav Petricevic]

Good story. Writer's block can be a nasty thing, and I like your message at the end - no matter how hard we try, we might not succeed at writing something unless we give it some time/thought.