Jonathan Franzen on writer’s block:

Although it’s terrible to go through, I have great respect for blockage, and I’ve learned to listen carefully to what it’s saying. In my experience, it happens when I’m trying to write something that I’m not ready to write, or that I don’t really *want* to write. And there’s no way to discover my unreadiness or unwillingness except to try and fail. At a certain point, often after months of failure and frustration, I’m forced to stop and undertake a self-analysis through note-taking and conversation with trusted friends. I might then discover that I’m trying to write about a character I don’t actually like, or that I’m trying to live up to someone else’s expectation of my writing, or that I’m not yet pyschologically prepared to enter the emotional territory I’ve staked out for myself. Whatever the problem is, the solution is always to find my way back to love, to desire, to pleasure.

(Source: writingclasses.com)