“There’s no such thing as writer’s block”

The best piece of writing advice I ever received.

I was complaining to a trusted professor that I was often faced with writer’s block when writing essays, which made me dislike the process and feel as though I wasn’t reaching my potential.

“There’s no such thing as writer’s block”

When she first told me that, I was in disbelief. How could that be true? I had experienced it first hand.

It was like saying that “there’s no such thing as a water,” knowing full well there’s water.

Everyone knows that writer’s block is a thing. So many people write about it on Medium alone.

Ah, you might think, am I not writing about it right now?

Yes, and no.

Yes, because in some ways writer’s block is a phenomenon because people believe in it. In that sense, it’s a social construction and is real.

No, because I can coherently talk about writer’s block the same way I can coherently talk about something that doesn’t exist. Examples include unicorns and four-sided triangles. A unicorn is a mythical creature that is like a horse but has a horn on its head. I never cared whether or not they existed, but always enjoyed depictions of them in art.(*) Below is a picture of a unicorn for your viewing pleasure.