It's called the "writer's block," an affliction as medieval-sounding as the guillotine-and just as cruel.

If you've written before but have gone into hibernation since, getting back into word-weaving may prove to be an excruciating experience for you. It's not getting the words right on paper, and feeling utterly disconsolate about it. Even worse, it's not getting any words out, at all-and then you feel like banging your head on the wall until you smash your brain to bits. Then perhaps you can sort the blobs out to see which globule came from the left cerebral hemisphere; they say you get the knack for language and speech from that part of, well, what used to be your brain�

Perhaps you'd like to try out these five easy steps before things get any more morbid. You won't need an axe for this one�..come on, put it down.

1. If your whole existence depends on that one immaculate word floating in the alphabet soup of your noodle, it will take an eternity for you to cook up even just one phrase. Quit meditating and start freewriting. Free write-jot down anything that comes to mind. Go ahead, you don't have to be grammatically correct. You don't even have to make sense. Just write for a couple of minutes until you fill your paper with notes down to the last line.
   
   
   • The point of this activity is just to get you into the writing mood. Don't stop to correct yourself or to choose the words to use. If you do find yourself stumped over what to write next, repeat the last word you've written. Still nothing? Keep on repeating words and phrases until you finally hit on a new word, until *PLINK!* The next big idea occurs to you. You will have every opportunity to go over these paragraphs later on, but that is not your objective for now. Just keep on writing.
   
   
2. You've spilled the soup; now eat some. You've already poured your thoughts out�but being the self-critic that you are, you are tempted to go over what you have just written-to scold yourself for doing such a sloppy job.
   
   
   • That's not the way to do it. Get out. Yes, get out. Grab a snack. Enjoy a short nap. Momentarily forget your name, as well as the fact that you are a writer who has forgotten how to write. You should be able to spend some time away from what you have freewritten; let it "simmer," so that when you get back, you can look at it from a fresher point of view.