Writer’s block is a fatal flaw to an English major, especially when that English major is in two writing classes and works for a publication, but the fatal flaw to every student (and something that causes writer’s block) is exhaustion.
With every bit of time I had, I worked through midterms to find less than spectacular LORA fruits. After a parental guilt trip and the weeklong departure of a better half, I decided to skip caffeine, a prescription and deteriorating health, for sleep. It was a week of being lazy, something I hadn’t tasted since early in the semester, and it’s something I won’t taste for a while.
I view my hiatus as worthless to my schoolwork, finances and stamina, but my sanity and body are revitalized. I didn’t spend every night in the library, which would close and force me to relocate to Tulane’s Lavin-Bernick Center; though I didn’t get any work done. I missed seeing people I normally see every day in class, or have lunch with on certain days, but I also didn’t have to deal with the masses — everyone needs their personal time — that rarely let me walk through the Danna Student Center in less than 10 minutes. I missed out on the varying fashions of the student body, but I didn’t even think about business majors who don’t know what a satire is. In the end, I was okay with the worst decision I made that day, which was eating four-day-old pizza from the Orleans Room, because I later rejoiced when I ate free vegan Indian food with the old friends with whom I caught up — the two best decisions I made that day.
I am writing this column because my creative fire is just starting to spark again. The amount of writing I produced in such a short period of time (articles, papers and short stories making up the whole of it) led my mind to need a break. Now that I haven’t written for about a week, I am struggling to find content, but when the strongest thought in my mind is, “I am having writer’s block,” I started writing about it. Hopefully, this column will soothe me back to a better mindset, but I hope that it will also send a message to those high-strung students out there, to remind them that it is okay to take a break if your mind and body really need it.
For the coming week, I have to catch up with my life. I have enough schoolwork to keep me occupied through spring break, and I already have a full schedule at work planned to refill my pockets. I will gradually become more and more stressed until the week of finals when I will be as cracked out as Bobby Brown in Hempstead with 10 Gs spent, under the mountain of work I will unfortunately accumulate. I certainly won’t be the only one in that state though. Let the games begin, because I’m ready to be a productive student again.