Writer's Block

Writer's Block
I don't know if any of you have ever suffered from the so-called "writer's block". A lot of writers will tell you there is no such thing, that you just have to keep going and meet your deadlines regardless of how you feel.
When I moved from the house my children had grown up in, an ancient cottage surrounded by acres of spoilt English woodland, seven months ago I assumed I had no desire to write because I was so stressed by the move. Downsizing is the most difficult – it might mean you now have access to the capital that was tied up in your house but it also means you've left your memories behind and are trying to squash your life into a building half the size. By haven't felt settled here and even looked at another house somewhere else in the village.
I have been busy - don't get me wrong – I still spent several hours a day my computer working on something related to writing but what I haven't been doing is writing anything new. No, that's not quite true. I did complete the Regency I'd started before the move. I have also rewritten five books and completed the edits and proofs for three of them. I twitter, blog, facebook, e-mail and visit chat rooms every day. All part of what's needed when you write for an e-publisher.
However, writing was no longer easy. If I achieve 1000 words a day I am doing well. It felt as if I had to push the words through a sieve, when before they poured out freely. I started a YA fantasy before I moved and had written the first three chapters. Thinking I had a gap between edits for Aurora/Aspen Mountain Press I decided to try and write some more of this.
Then yesterday, miraculously, it was as if a barrier had been removed from my brain. For the first time in seven months the characters came alive on the page, the story became real to me. I wrote 3000 words without stopping. This morning I got up eager to get to my computer, knowing writing would no longer be a chore but a pleasure.
I wasn't aware that I had "writer's block." But now it's gone I can vouch for the fact that it does exist. Yes, you can force a way through it, keep writing and even produce work that is as good as before. But something that was a part of you, an obsession rather than a job, will be missing.
Today I no longer want to move, am happy in my new house. I had really begun to believe it was the house that was stopping me working. My joie de vivre has returned and I am back to what I want to be – a writer who lives for her work.
Fenella Miller