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Kona wrote: >As far as the "professional writers don't get block" >stance goes, I don't really relate to this. For me, >creative activity (as opposed to the writing I do in >my professional life) is more *listening* to something >faint and subtle than wilfully generating product, and >when I can't hear anything I *really* can't hear >anything, and I know it. And to "make something up" >to fill in the silence seems an insult to the creative >endeavour, which for me is definitely about "telling >the truth" at a level that runs below the surface >frazzle of the conscious mind. I can't always do it, >but I know when I have and when I haven't, and work I >produce that doesn't tell the truth at this level >always ends up being discarded. Not to mention >filling me with self-loathing And for me got it in one. I've worked as a journalist for years, and can whip up a piece to deadline without any trouble. I just don't think of this as "writing", although it's true that deadlines can be wonderfully stimulating, and can be used to produce real work - but it's very difficult with something like poetry, which simply will not obey. I know that despair of half hearing and not being able to - like the radio being not quite on the right station - and frankly there is nothing worse than _wanting_ to write, feeling that impelling desire, and being unable. Poetry is so beyond conscious volition that it's inevitably frustrating (it also has a habit of turning up at highly inconvenient times). I tell myself that it's not ready yet, and will be, when and if it is, and that's all there is to it. And just put aside the wanting for a while. If it goes on too long I begin to feel a little empty. But hey, there are always plenty of other things to do! "Block" seems to suggest that all you have to do is remove an impediment, rather than the patience of gestation, which seems a truer parallel to me. But everyone has different processes. What's the title of Garner's book of essays? Best Alison