Sometimes you wake up ready and willing to do a good stretch of writing that will really advance your project (an article, a dissertation, a book, etc.) You turn on the computer, open your file, and realize that today is the day when the writer's block decided to make an appearance in your life. It sits there, tugging at you from the inside, and whispering, "You are going to write something really silly and make a fool out of yourself."
People experience the writer's block for a variety of reasons. For me, it has always been a fear of writing something so unintelligent that people would think me an idiot. The fear is always so paralyzing that I can't even bring myself to put my fingers on the keyboard. So I discovered a way of dealing with my inner censor who keeps droning into my ear, telling me how my writing is horrible. I cheat the inner censor by pretending that I'm not writing for publication. "Of course, nobody will see this," I keep saying (often aloud) as I begin to write. "I'm just doing this for my own personal enjoyment. Nobody will ever see what I write today." The inner censor is tenacious but stupid. It always believes that I'm not writing for publication and eventually leaves me in peace.
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