Oh, I think there are more than just two options. Writer's block - You want to write - You're at the desk and everything! - but nothing comes to you! Lazy - You should be writing, but you've been wearing the same underwear for like five days (you do own others) and you don't see a change anytime soon, so writing... probably not going to happen. Distracted - Your life does not belong to you. It is made out of everyone else's wants, needs, wishes, and demands. Writing is a dream you once had. Distractable - Calling all my fellow Pisces suffering from Shiny Object Syndrome! You know who you.... OooOOooo!! Something totally unrelated to what I'm doing just ran by me. Bye! Tired - When the fuck did I get this old? There's a pain deep, deep in my hip-joint, like right in the ball and socket, and it's not injury related. This is just how my life is now??? WTF?? I'm sure there are many, many, many more.
I'll add another. Revisions You want to write new stuff but you're still revising all the stories you've written so far and it never ends. Adding another story to the list makes you shudder.
Writer's block is when a writer feels bereft of ideas. Laziness is unwillingness to make an effort to write. Ideas are there but the writing process itself is considered a burden. This feeling of a burden can be caused by factors such as: 1. Repeated rejection slips or refusals to publish from places where writing is submitted. 2. Physical illness that interferes with sustained concentration needed to finish a work. . 3. Anxiety that distracts the writer and forces discontinuation. In short, it can be an effort to avoid the pain of further frustration. If you don't try then you can't fail.
Writer's Block (Joyce-Nabokov Syndrome): You want to write! You're at the desk and everything! And you know what to write! But you know your prose probably will never achieve the greatness of the prose of writers like James Joyce or Vladimir Nabokov, so the effort is intimidating to the point where it paralyzes you. You think you can climb because you made it to the top of the second-floor stairs, but your next goal is summiting Everest. You'll probably die trying.
