We have all been in a situation where our responsibilities are piling up, we feel freaked-out and out-of-control, and we start despairing. The immediate future doesn’t look inviting—we dread the upcoming weeks of slogging through work while the sun is shining outside. Sometimes the stress of this situation can cause us to freeze up in panic—suddenly we don’t know what to research, what to write, or where to begin. This is what many writers refer to as “writer’s block.” No matter how and why it comes on, writer’s block can be mentally crippling, causing us to suddenly forget everything we knew.  As you find yourself staring at the blinking cursor on the big, white, square of your laptop, getting panicky, or desperately envisioning ways you could get out of all this work (quitting school, hiding, blaming it all on your roommate or parents, backpacking Europe, etc.), I invite you to imagine what it would be like if you had a calm, friendly professional writer that you could call and vent to, hash-out ideas to, or question in that moment. That’s me, the Honors Writing Consultant!  Drop me a line… silently withering up into a pile of sadness in front of the blank page will feel a lot worse than taking a few minutes to get some quality help.

Emily Luther, the Honors Writing Consultant, can be reached via email any time for an appointment: eluther@syr.edu.