Suddenly, A Knock On The Door

Illustration by Ofra Kobliner

I’ve written before on Alphabet Soup about how I dislike the term “writer’s block,” because I believe it hides an incorrect underlying assumption: that creativity is a renewable resource, like a faucet running water into our awareness-sink 24/7, and whenever a writer isn’t sensing this steady stream of inspiration, it means something has malfunctioned.

I prefer a different metaphor: inspiration as an unexpected compliment from a friend. Unlike the image of creativity as a continuous flow, receiving a compliment is not entirely in your hands. True, it does partly depend on you: how you express yourself, how you dress, your goodwill and generosity, your diligence, and so forth. But it depends on something else, too, something unpredictable that is beyond your control, an X factor that makes the whole process stressful and sometimes frustrating, yet also—valuable.

You know what? Forget compliments. Let’s try a different metaphor: think of writing a story as getting a kiss. A kiss can be given easily or grudgingly, it can happen every evening or not at all. When you spend a long time trying to write something and it isn’t working out, the frustration can make you demand it, using threats and coercion. And when you try to exact a kiss by force—it cannot end well.

Story translated by Miriam Shlesinger

Intro translated by Jessica Cohen