Work avoidance

Today has been a disaster. I set myself the task of writing half a chapter for my freelancing book - perhaps a little ambitious, but not impossible in the six hours I have to work while my son is at nursery. I've opened the Word doc, I've written some headings, I've even added in some keywords, and yet the doc is still alarmingly blank. The cursor is flashing at me in an accusing manner, and the autosave is periodically saving diddly squat.

Instead of getting stuck in, today I've been taken over by a nasty gremlin known as 'work avoidance' which has had me making cups of tea, putting a wash on, doing some admin, making a couple of calls and - oh - writing this blog.

It amazes me after all these years as a writer and ghostwriter, I still struggle with writer's block. It's not that I have nothing to write, it's simply that now and again the task of writing daunts me. Sometimes - especially if the clock's ticking on a deadline - I push on through and invariably find once I get started I'm away and running. But on a day like today, I just give in to the malaise and accept that I'm about as creative, energetic and directed as a drunken wood louse.