Benefiting from writer's block

I feel comfortable enough to make a public announcement: I, Brian William Hough of Massachusetts, New England, USA (go Patriots!), have been suffering from a severe bout of writer’s block.

I was self-diagnosed in the latter month of 2014. The condition has continued throughout most of the new year, and now I’m treating this affliction with the only prescription that that may actually have a shot of working, eventually, hopefully. Writing.

Maya Angelou, Mark Twain, and countless of other authors around the world agree: when you’re struggling with Writer’s Block, the best cure in the world is to simply struggle through it and keep writing. Lois Lowry, author of The Giver, has a really inspirational (and also somewhat aggrevating) quote on the subject:

Writing is a job. Some days you don’t feel like doing your job. But there’s no ‘teacher’s block’ or ‘dentist’s block.’ I cannot figure out why we have created this mysterious phrase only for writers.

I’ve always considered myself a writer of some shape or form. Whether it be school essays, short stories, novel attempts, brain blasts, journalistic writing, whatever - I enjoy writing, and really, what makes someone a writer more than the act of enjoying writing? But lately, I haven’t felt like much of a writer, because at some point, to be considered a writer, one must actually write.

If I’m going to continue considering myself a writer, then it’s time I do what the writers do and just try to force myself to write. So the goal is this: I, Brian William Hough of Massachusetts, New England, USA (go Patriots!), will no longer suffer from writer’s block, but I will benefit from it. I will write as much as I can, as often as I can. I will post - on here, on Haverzine, maybe elsewhere (who knows) - numerous times a week.

I will write about my day, I will write about why cats are better than dogs. I will write about why dogs are better than cats, and I’ll write about why both are significantly worse than hedgehogs.

I will write about anything that, to be most plain, I feel like writing about. If you want to keep track of all my writing, definitely follow me on Twitter at @bwhough - I’ll definitely link out to pieces as they’re published. But if nobody reads them, that’s ok, too. Because I’m a writer, and at some point, to be considered a writer, one must actually write.