Writer’s Block While Sheltering in Place

Guest Blogger Kathy Guthormsen shares her writer’s block woes while sheltering in place. Perhaps you can relate.

Shelter in Place Writer’s Block

Sheltering in place has taken all the words from my brain

Inspiration has disappeared

My muses are sheltering elsewhere

I am numb

I sit at my desk

I start my computer and open three works-in-process

I drink my coffee

I eat my breakfast

I read the paper

I work the sudoku puzzle

I stare at the word jumble trying to make sense of the randomly arranged letters

I read my works-in-process and make some edits

I write a few sentences on a new document

I work an online sudoku puzzle

I check email

I check Facebook

I write items on my to-do list

I delete the sentences I wrote earlier and beg my muses to speak to me

I look at writing prompts

I make more edits to the works-in-process

I write random phrases on the new document

I sigh

I do a load of laundry

I go for a walk, wearing a mask

I go to the grocery store, wearing a mask

I clean out the chicken coop and the cat box and realize I should be wearing a mask for those tasks

I look at recipes and decide what to make for dinner

I sit at my desk again and type a few more sentences

I save all the open documents

I decide not to post anything on my blog – again

I realize what’s wrong

I miss people

I miss hugs

I miss my muses

I long to get lost in writing again

I want my characters to take me to unexpected places again

I ask the magic of writing to visit me again

Kathy Guthormsen

Growing up in Skagit Valley, Washington with its verdant farmland gave Kathy an appreciation for the promise of nature’s bounty. The Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges and old growth forests offered the magic of things unseen.

Occasionally her magical muses refuse to talk with her. She fills those times with gardening, books, chores, puzzles, and lists.

Kathy’s work has been published in The Write Spot: Memories and The Write Spot: Possibilities, available both in print and as ereaders at Amazon.

You can see more of Kathy’s creative writing on her blog, Kathy G Space, where she posts essays, short stories, and fairy tales.