More Than a Rock

31Creative Blocks

Writer’s block is what you get if you’re trying to be Faulkner. You sit and stare at the wall and nothing will come. Once you come to your senses and accept who you are, then there’s no problem. I’m not Faulkner. I’m a late-middle-aged mid-list fair-to-middling writer, and it gives me a lot of pleasure.

—Garrison Keillor

Few things are as troubling to a budding photographic artist as experiencing prolonged periods when, no matter what we do or how hard we try, our work persistently fails to satisfy. Writers have been aware of this phenomenon for some time and even coined a term for it—writer’s block—although such dry spells are certainly not unique to writers. This is why I prefer the term creative block.

Experienced artists ...