1. THERE IS A CERTAIN COMPULSION to the act of writing: an unscratchable itch that won’t let the fingers refrain from their fruitless but busy task, whether on paper or keyboard.
2. To ask writers “Why do you write?” is to confess an ignorance of this basic graphomanic drive. One writes because one can’t not write, just as one breathes because one can’t not breathe. It is a function of having a particular sort of bodily structure, of brain or lungs or soul. Just as creating is joyful — physically pleasurable — refraining from creativity can be quite painful.
3. Which brings us to writers’ block: the wires are there, but no connection is being made. The bitter frustration of being unable to express oneself in words becomes a viscous straitjacket for the mind. But when it’s gone, ah! there’s no remembering its thick embrace.
4. There is also a particular brand of impostor syndrome at the art’s heart. “Did I really write that? How did I write it? Can I do it again?” This mental turbulence is the opposites-attractive mate of another — falling in love with one’s own words, convinced that no literary wrong can be done. Both paradigms can alternately manifest as a sort of day-to-day (or minute-by-minute) pinwheel.
5. In the end, all that really matters is throwing as many words as you can on the page or screen and manipulating them until they fit your fancy — and your editor’s. It can be hard work, but it also yields a superior satisfaction. And in the final edition, what else matters?