Sitting Completely Naked And Wordless In Front Of Your Computer

 

     “To love another person is to see the face of God.”

                                            Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

 

     These are perilous times for writers...

     Last week, I was trying to write a story so I could again join the weekly short-story writing contest of reedsyprompts. The prompt I chose was “write about a mischievous pixie or trickster god,” which would have been my second entry for the weekly contest. (My first one, which I submitted months ago, lost.) I failed to write the story as I continued to suffer from a monumental (creative) writer's block. And what kind of writer would be inspired these days, when the COVID-19 cases continued to rise—more than 10K a day, the peak hitting 15K, and all its dire consequences? A first cousin of mine (a regular drinking buddy; really close to us, like a brother) was among those infected, though he only was experiencing mild symptoms, which was a recurring slight fever, a silver lining.

     Now, I’m trying to write a story again for reedsyprompts (from the prompt “write about an author famous for their fairy tale retellings”), but I’ve been sitting in front of the computer for more than twenty three hours now and I haven’t written a single line.

     I once read an article about Victor Hugo’s cure for writer’s block. Yup, Mr. Hugo was the genius behind the immortal novels The Hunchback of Notre Dame (my favorite classic novel) and Les Miserables. Mr. Hugo (who incidentally was also notorious for being a sex workhorse as he loved whores, had several mistresses and was reported to have NINE rounds of sex with his wife during their first night as husband and wife), whenever he was suffering from writer’s block would strip completely naked and hand ALL his clothes to his servant (who would hide the clothes) so he’d be forced to stay in his room to write and would be unable to go out of the house (to look for a prostitute, possibly).

     I don’t think I’d be comfortable stripping stark naked while inside the house, so no, I wouldn’t try that cure. My cure for writer’s block then was to exercise and sweat a little, but it’s not working now, as I am too distracted with what’s happening around us.

     Yes, these are perilous times for writers, times when huge writer’s block could easily roll into your forehead and inside your brain and stay there—unless you can strip stark naked in front of your computer.

     Anyway, Luis Manzano and Jessy Mendiola got married today, so it’s another silver lining.