Writing Is Hard: A Poem

Writers’ block is a super common phenomenon for writers, and it just means “the words won’t come.” There are lots of causes for writers’ block, from the writer’s emotional state, to a problem with the narrative, to the writer being hungry, to the writer simply not being warmed up yet.

(Yes, intellectual work needs warming up, just like muscles when you work out.)

Anyway, usually when I experience writer’s block, it’s simply that I’m distracted. So, I will often write out how I’m feeling before getting started, and occasionally, that turns into a poem.

This is one such poem I wrote recently.

Writing Is Hard

Writing is hard
but I shouldn’t complain.
I picked this.
But there’s something about
how it stretches my brain.
I picked this.
It pulls and it prods,
a unique kind of pain.
I picked this.
The mental fatigue
makes me feel lame.
I picked this.
No one gives a shit
about my brain’s pains and pangs.
I picked this.
I picked this.
I picked this.