(fill in the blank. if you can.)

i've been trying to write all day. this is how it's been going:

anne lamott posits that there really isn't such a thing as writer's block. the fantasy: something is in the way of something THAT OMG EVERYONE MUST READ OR ELSE I'LL DIE trying to get out. the reality: there is nothing there to get out in the first place. nothing.

"the word block suggests that you are constipated or stuck, when the truth is that you're empty... this emptiness can destroy some writers, as do the shame & frustration that go with it. the problem is acceptance, which is something we're taught not to do. we're taught to improve uncomfortable situations, to change things, alleviate unpleasant feelings. but if you accept the reality that you have been given- that you are not in a productive creative period- you free yourself to begin filling up again.”  (Bird by Bird, p.178)

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& so there it is. i'm empty. i began my efforts to write over twelve hours ago. it's taken me two hours to punch out these few little paragraphs, & one of them isn't even mine. to be honest, you'll have to write the conclusion to this post on your own. i would say more, but i have nothing left. & i need to go figure out how to be okay with that.