This was actually the main essay on my college application, but I decided that it's a good way to start the blog too.
Writer's Block
There’s a dangerous disease out there. You might not know it, but almost every person who has ever passed through school has contracted it. Doctors can’t cure it. I can’t even tell you what the best medicine for it might be; it varies from person to person. All I can tell you is its name. It’s commonly known as writer’s block.
Writer’s block has one very obvious symptom: the victim will be unable to come up with something to write. Strangely, this affliction manifests itself when one is faced with the prospect of writing an essay. I would know; I’ve had it more times than I can count. Quite often, I’ve picked up my pen, ready to write an English essay, only to end up staring at the question, the words dancing a merry jig in front of my eyes. So I start looking for alternatives.
It’s said that a picture’s worth a thousand words, which I find wonderful, in part because I’m yet to face photographer’s block. For some reason, handing in a photograph is not acceptable - my “pictures” still need to be taken with pen and paper, and this greatly increases the risk of contracting writer’s block. Yet again, I find myself watching the words dance.
And then something clicks into place. Maybe the words are bad dancers. Maybe I read something which gives me an idea. Maybe I realize that it’s eleven o’clock and I still haven’t written anything other than my name. But the words start to flow. My pen races across the page; my untidy scrawl brings people to life, constructs buildings, grows plants, and starts conversations. Sometimes the characters in my stories are soldiers. Sometimes they’re coconut sellers roaming the streets of Mumbai. Sometimes my stories have no characters. Sometimes my essays aren’t stories.
On second thought, maybe I can tell you the best medicine: inspiration. It doesn’t matter where you get it from. I’ve found inspiration from conversations with my friends and from my photography. I’ve even come up with something in the middle of a basketball game. I wouldn’t advise you to actually look for inspiration. The most inspiring thing about inspiration is that you never know where it’ll come from. And it always cures writer’s block.
