Do you have writer's block? How to tell

How can you be sure you have writer's block? If you've spent days, weeks, or even months with an inability to write then you likely have writer's block. But how to be sure?

Writer's block is an inability to write, or an inability to write anything substantial as you define it. There's no set limit as to what level of block you can have, or how severe your block has to be before you can call it writer's block. If you're accustomed to writing 10 to 20 pages of manuscript text each day and suddenly you're down to 2 to 3 pages, you might have writer's block. It all depends on how you feel while you're writing those 2 to 3 pages--or how you feel when you're not writing those other 8 to 18 pages.

Writer's block is certainly a mental issue, with any number of different causes. Maybe you've run into plotting problems and you can't move forward with your story. Maybe you have a personal problem that is interfering with your ability to focus on whatever it is that you want to be writing. The causes can be clearly defined or vague. Either way, you have writer's block.

If you feel like something is holding you back, be it problems with your story or problems with yourself, you have writer's block as I define it for me, and for this website.

I originally wrote the writer's block series of articles for another website I was playing with, but ultimately, they've ended up here. I hope you find them helpful.