Along the Way, I Lost...It

I've written about some struggles I've had with writer's block before, but that mainly has been related to my fiction writing, where I am creating worlds and situations out of nothing. It's definitely been a weaker area of mine and one I am trying to work through.

A new plague, though, has struck me down.

I was offered a chance to go back to writing for Rock M Nation, which, for those who don't know, is a Mizzou-centric blog affiliated with SB Nation. It would be unpaid, but I didn't mind that.

I was also offered a chance to write for a website called Today's U. I got connected to them through one of my Twitter friends and I would be writing for my former editor at another site. That gig was/is set to pay a little bit; I wouldn't be getting rich for those pieces, but if I wrote enough it would cover gas money for the month, which doesn't suck at all.

The problems I encountered were two fold:

1) I was given these offers while I was in the midst of moving this summer. It was an unexpected move that has turned out for the better, but it still caused several weeks of upheaval.

2) Now that I am settled...I have nothing to say.

And that's scary.

The ease in writing about college sports (college football in particular) was something I always took for granted. Some analysis, play it basically straight, some numbers, maybe a bit of humor and done. Simple.

Right now, it's a huge challenge. I'm lacking in inspiration; I'm lacking in drive; I'm lacking in a lot of different areas and I have no confidence in my ability to string together 500-1000 words.

It sucks. Big time.

Luckily for me, this is not my vocation, but my avocation.

That does not diminish the level of frustration I feel, nor the fact that I have/am letting other folks done.

But I also don't want to churn out subpar work just to say, "Hey, I did something".

So for now, I stay silent.