Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory–a classic description of writers’ block. | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Writer’s block develops through perfectionism, through not letting go of a piece of work when it is very good, rather than perfect, through viewing your work through the eyes of a imaginary critic.

Rodriguez describes the sterility as he tried to finish his Ph.D.

He wrote “sentences that were overly cautious, timid, strained brittle under the heavy weight of quaifications. I seemed unable to dare a passionate statement. I felt drawn to the edge of sterility, capable of no more than pedantic, lifeless, unassailable prose.”

“I grew to hate the growing pages of my dissertion on genre and Renaissance literature.”

Not surprising.

Writing that nourishes the heart and whole being, flows from the heart and whole being, not solely the head.