W-Shadow.com

I’ve wasted three days trying to come up with something to blog about. Three days that could’ve been spent on more productive and enjoyable things – like finally updating Broken Link Checker, or setting up an AdWords campaign for my first commercial plugin. I could’ve spent them reading my recently acquired copy of Neal Stephenson’s “Diamond Age”.

Instead I spent them racking my brain for post ideas, fruitlessly. Staring at the screen for tens of minutes, then always mercifully distracted by emails and RSS. Going for a walk to “clear the mind”. Succeeding all too well. Coming back with a mind filled with wind and rain and spring mist, but no bloggable insights.

I could’ve given in and invented many excuses for why I didn’t have anything to say. They would’ve been good excuses, too. For example, I could’ve complained how being a pronounced introvert was incompatible with blogging. I would even back it up with peer-reviewed research and pretty charts. I’d mention the endless, mind-numbing boredom inherent in my nerdish existence, and finish off with a witty demotivational poster found on Google Images.

I could blog about “writer’s block” itself. Go meta for bonus points. Maybe call upon the bite-sized wisdom of demotivational posters again.

In the last paragraph, I would realize that I can’t actually offer any useful insight on how to avoid or fight writer’s block. Realize that the post doesn’t actually provide any noticeable value to the reader. So I wouldn’t hit the “Publish” button.