writer's block

I've been feeling a bit of "writer's block" lately. Not with poetry, but with short stories (and with essays... but I think everyone feels that!)

I haven't written a short story since last summer. And looking back at what I wrote then, I do not consider them very good. Usually I can salvage characters or plots or scraps of text from stories that don't work, but I've had no desire to retain anything from the last batch of attempts. So I've been trying to write some new stories. I have a bunch of ideas in my head, floating around, but I've been so indecisive about my fiction. I can't decide on first person or third person. I can't decide where to begin, what course the plot will take, characters names. I think I've forgotten how to write a story. (and I'm not sure I ever knew how).

But reading is inspiring. Alexander MacLeod's Light Lifting made me want to write all the stories I had ever dreamt of. And I did manage to get a few beginnings down. Now I'm feeling the same about Clark Blaise's The Meagre Tarmac. I'm about halfway through and blown away. And again, I want to write all the stories, every character.

I hope this next week pans out better for my fiction...
Sometimes I think "writer's block" is really just laziness. Maybe a bit of fear.