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I’ve had writer’s block.  You’ve had writer’s block.  Writer’s block is no joke.  We stare at the computer screen or at that blank notebook page and every idea that comes up is garbage.

We pace.  We go for a walk.  We look up at the sky and down at the sidewalk and nod at the people we see.  We come back to our apartment and smoke a cigarette and have a couple of glasses of wine or beer.  Nothing.

We read a book.  We watch television.  We eat dinner.  We clean the bathroom.  The words won’t come.

We talk to family and friends on the phone.  We read the newspaper.  We worry about the economy and pray to God that the Obama administration knows what it’s doing.  We worry about money, climate change and the environment.  We worry about the earth we will leave to our children.

Then it’s time to go to bed. 

Finally, we close our eyes for some well deserved sleep and the outline of a short story or a poem about a young man and woman of different religions being desperately in love against the wishes of their parents becomes clear.  And since we don’t know how it’s going to turn out we get out of bed.

It’s time to write again.