Doctor, do I have a case of Writer's Block?

"Writer's Block," which affects a small community of creative persons, has much in common with a more widespread condition known as "Insomnia." These annoying states of being are not permanent. If they were, an afflicted writer would, in short order, no longer be a writer, and an afflicted non-sleeper would be in an insane asylum or dead.

These syndromes may not even be genuine afflictions in the strictest sense. Maybe they're rest stops. Maybe Insomnia is a vacation from dreaming, and Writer's Block is a vacation from imagining.

In any case, the insomniac returns to their bed on a daily basis, even if he or she twists and turns all night, and fails to produce a satisfactory amount of zzzzzz's when their sleeping session is over. Similarly, the blocked writer goes to his computer and stares at a blank screen, wishing they could tap into some inspiration and produce some abc's. Really unlucky writers follow that depressing exercise with a session of Insomnia.

The best thing to do in such a situation is to write something. Anything. Forget outlines, goals, success, sales. You can't have Writer's Block if you are writing. I've got Writer's Block, and I've got it bad, and I've just written this.