I follow a handful of truly talented fly fishing bloggers, though one of the best hasn’t been lighting up my RSS reader lately, and he finally weighed in with the reason.

He’s too happy to write.

…I mentally rewind to the previous day’s writers’ group meeting. As has happened much too often lately, I’d brought nothing new, nothing to read – my pen strangely quiet. So, when my turn arrived, I apologized and suggested that we take my allotted time to discuss the dreaded writer’s block, for I was clearly experiencing one. With a wry smile and with great assurance, Catherine waded in. “I know the problem” she said.

“You’re happy.”

I laughed, at the time, both at the concept that a contented man is a writer in trouble and at the odd notion that I might be such a man. But here, a mere twenty-four hours later, as I blithely toss a fluffy fly towards a shaded riverbank, I realize that she’s right.

How could such a thing have happened?

Sure, it’s counter intuitive, but there’s plenty of supporting evidence; almost nobody on the Internet seems happy, and the damn thing’s flooded with writers and words.

That’s absolute proof right there, though every dataset has its outliers. If abject sadness is required to write, then I should be putting the finishing touches on a NY Times best seller; it seems marketing consultants rank third from the bottom in the job happiness rankings. (If I was an Assisted Living Administrator, it’d be “hello Pulitzer”, though those smug Aerospace Engineers probably can’t work up a tweet).

Clearly, this happiness thing is more complicated than I thought.

Here I thought I wanted the cool wife, the adorable kid, the stunning place on the side of a mountain — but it turns out they’re choking the creative life right out of me.

Still, I’m certain there’s a way back.

In the mornings, I could waste three bucks on a cup of that bitter, watery coffee at the place down in town, and voila — 250 words.

Not enough? I could boot into Windows instead of Linux and write in MS Word, creating a depressing writing environment good for at least a power essay.

It goes downhill from there.

The good news is that’s the goal.

Stay depressed, Tom Chandler.

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