Dictionary.com defines writer's block as a usually temporary psychological inability to begin or continue work on a piece of writing. Scary thought, huh? For a writer, not being able to write can shatter an ego and become a nightmare.

Is writer's block all in your head or is it real? Not everyone believes that writer's block exists. They believe that it is an excuse to get out of writing or just pure laziness.

Those who believe this have obviously never suffered from writer's block. Every writer has days where it is hard to write. This tends to happen if you have really been pushing yourself to write a lot and have spent days doing nothing but writing. If you are stuck and having problems, could be you just need to take a bit of a break.

Get away from writing for a short period of time. Go for a walk or a jog. When I am walking or jogging is when my creativeness is at its peak. Oftentimes I wish I had an internal tape recorder to record my thoughts so I could transcribe them on paper when I get back in the house.

What robs us of the ability to create? It is my belief that stress has a lot to do with it. Some people can write no matter what is going on in their lives. They have learned to separate themselves from their situation. I'm not one of those people. If there is something not so good happening in my life, not only does it affect how I write, it affects what I write.

You can learn to deal with normal, everyday stress so that it doesn't bring to a halt your writing ability. There are more stressful situations, so horrific you can think of nothing else - such as a child running away from home, finding out a spouse or significant other has been unfaithful, a loved one in a possibly fatal accident, etc. - that can seriously disrupt the creative flow.

At times like these write something you can focus on - write down what you are feeling. When things are back to normal, what you wrote down will give you new inspiration and insight for future characters.

If you need more help, there are several websites that offer creative writing prompts. Language is a Virus (link below) offers writing prompts, writing games, exercises and tips. Possibly you will learn how to make writing fun once again.

Professional Writing Resources (link below) has articles on how to fight writer’s block and the writing blues, plus many other resources for writers.

Writing is a skill. The more you practice any skill, the better you become at it. The above mentioned websites will help you with this. Make it a habit to write each and every day, whether or not you feel inspired, whether or not the creative juices are flowing. If you find your writing to be stale and unimaginative, if you just can't persuade the words to come, then write a letter. Pick an object and write a description of it. Write a review of the last book you read. Pick random words out of a dictionary and construct a story using them. Anything to convince your brain to write. Once the creative juices have begun to flow, work on a current project. You need to write every day, even if you don’t like what you are writing and feel that it could be done much better.