Writer's Block

Here’s what happens to me when the words won’t come, ideas are gone, my muses are ignoring me, and my brain feels empty.
Drink my coffee
Eat my breakfast
Read the paper
Work the Sudoku puzzle
Sit down at my desk
Start my computer
Open at least 3 Word documents with works in process and one blank one
Read the works in process and make a few edits
Add a sentence or two to a couple of them
Stare at the blank page
Work an online Sudoku puzzle
Check email
Check Facebook
Write items on my to-do list
Delete the sentences I wrote earlier
Beg my muses to speak to me
Look at writing prompts
Write a few sentences on the blank page
Make more edits to the works in process
Sigh
Do a load of laundry
Go to the gym
Go to the grocery store
Clean out the chicken coop
Clean out the cat box
Decide what to make for dinner
Sit back down at my computer
Write a few more sentences
Delete a few sentences I wrote earlier
Save all the open Word documents (I’m not stupid, just stuck)
Re-read what I wrote today
Re-read my edits on works in process
Decide not to post anything on my blog – again
 
I have lots of works in process
Some may become things I want to share
Most won’t
At some point, I resort to typing up recipes from all the notes I have scribbled on scraps of paper
At least I’m writing
And I will be able to replicate dinners I made up on the fly
Some of those recipes may be worth sharing
Most won’t
 
I know my muses will get over their snits
And begin to talk to me again
I try to stay open to them
But sometimes it’s hard
I wonder what I did to make them mad
 
I can take revenge
I left Pindi pouting and scheming in her chamber
Maybe she should stay there awhile
I left Sessel right after her wedding to Clarence
They need some privacy
I left my shape shifter sitting on a fence in the shape of a robin
I still don’t know what she will do next
Robins don’t speak English
And they don’t always understand what humans do
Neither do I