Exactly! It’s the same for me, too. If it’s me being lazy and just not wanting to, I’ll move on and play a video game or watch tv, but not get stressed out. I’ll maybe say to my husband “I should be writing now but I can’t be bothered.”
If it’s writers block, I’m different. Like last week, it was burnt out, and it spilled over to my personal life. I couldn’t do anything and my husband could see that.
Block might be different for everyone, but there really is a difference. Yeah, there might and probably is a root cause (like stress, depression, whatever) but that doesnt mean it’s not block
There’s definately a personal care aspect to it. If we’re doing the mom stress thing that shows up in less showers then we should have had that week, well, self care time may help.
For my husband, writer’s block is pretty clear-cut other issues. Get him laid, let him draw, the writing will flow out. Orr the other direction. Dude is somewhat miserable because he doesn’t feel he can write at all because of work life and 3 kids. He’s having to find different outlets than before.
For me, writing is my job despite it not paying a proper wage. So I take it seriously. I edit, I write, and some days I genuinely don’t stop. I have a ream of ideas, literally waiting in a line to be written.
So when people go “writer’s block isn’t real, you’re just lazy and need to force it” it feels like an insult. Like… have you seen how hard I go at it? Seen how often I update on Wattpad, seen how many ideas I have to go?
I have the ideas, I have the characters, have the motivation. It’s just burn out, and that causes block, and thats okay because it’s my mind telling me to break. Usually I push through block, but sometimes it’s not possible because it’s not writing that’s causing my problems. When it is, it’s easy for me.
Saying it’s not real is dismissing so many people’s issues and to me, that kind of thing stresses me out more. Why I dont really talk about my issues online. I’m pretty open book when I want to be, and I’ll put out “I’m burnt out” on Wattpad, but only when I work out my issues.
Usually it’s because I need sleep, or to put out my stress on video games
If writing is your job, or you intend to pursue it as a job, writer’s block is most likely inevitable, like regular burnout in a “regular” job.
If writing is your hobby, then it doesn’t matter why you’re stopping. It’s a hobby. It means you’re allowed to stop, or pick it back up, or switch gears, or or or…
As someone who’s had an irregular relationship with writing as a hobby, not being able to write only sucked when I beat myself up about it. Once I managed to stop…well, what do you know, I felt like writing again
So I would say that “writer’s block”, as a phenomenon, is real, but the term might not always be accurate in the literal sense.
