10/10/2026
Hey, guys!
I recently graduated from college. According to a standard-sized piece of thick paper (to emphasize its officiality), I now have a B.A. in creative writing. I did it. I have the degree. I have friends and professors and mentors all cheering me on toward a bright and successful future. I had a short story published this summer. I have three full novel manuscripts and am attempting to write my fourth. I’ve had four years of nonstop writing and editing and collaborating and researching. And now, post graduation, I have more free time than ever.
But if I’m being completely honest, I’ve been struggling to write for months now. Call it writer’s block or burnout or whatever you want, but the fact of the matter is that I’ve been out of school and away from the hectic university schedule for months, and a few poems are all I have to show for it.
Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve been in the trenches of novel revisions for what will be my debut novel (hopefully before I’m old and gray). But while I can manage rearranging words already on the page, I have yet to find it in myself to create anything new. My fourth novel was born in a rare creative burst that resulted in a first paragraph – probably my favorite opening I’ve ever written, in fact. But it has sat in that sad and stunted state for nearly two months. I’ve thought about plot and setting and characters – I even started curating my playlist for the many hours of drafting that I have ahead of me. But I can’t bring myself to actually write the dang thing.
I think there are likely several reasons for my block – fear that I don’t actually know what I’m doing and avoidance of personal problems that tend to bleed onto the page, among other things. But I hope that my inspiration, which is still alive and kicking, can find a way past this block and fight its way to the page soon.
At the end of the day, I really don’t know what I’m doing more than anyone else in the realm of writing. Every time I start a new project, I feel like I am a beginner once again. But my hope is that if I continue to write about my experiences with writing, something that I say here will eventually connect with someone else – even just one person. I don’t believe that my experiences as a writer are singular to me, so to anyone out there in the same boat as me, I offer my condolences and my encouragement – for whatever that's worth.
Here’s to things getting better.