This may seem like a throwaway post, one of those things written just to fill a gap in my schedule. But it is about a question I've often pondered. Just what is writer's block, and why does it seem to be an affliction that, thankfully, passed me over?
I've never had writer's block. When I've failed to write, it has invariably been because I was too lazy to start typing, or because I had taken on a topic requiring more research than I was willing to do at the time.
There are an infinite number of subjects to write about. At the moment I'm at a table in a university library, so I could stand up, pick a book randomly, and start writing about the topic of the book. That may seem like cheating, but it applies to the world outside this building, too.
I could walk across the university plaza and get dozens of ideas for topics just by observing and eavesdropping on student conversations. I could walk a few blocks to city hall, wander the corridors, and come up with subjects just by reading the department names off doors.
There is probably no subject, however mundane, that could not be made interesting with the proper approach.
Writer's block? I think it's really typing procrastination.