I write for a living. I’ve lost count of how many documents I edit, how many copies I churn out, how many marketing materials, product names, taglines, branding projects I’ve produced.

I’ve lost count of how many documents I edit, how many copies I churn out, how many marketing materials, product names, taglines, branding projects I’ve produced. Don’t get me started on the number of blogs and websites I manage.

And yet, when I stare at the backend of this blog, I draw a blank. It’s not that I don’t have stories to tell. I do. But I’m coming up empty. I have browsed writing prompt lists for 40 minutes now, and I find none of that inspiring.

This is the problem with writing for a living – you get institutionalised. Can a writing job knock the creativity out of you? I’m starting to suspect that it can. Don’t get me wrong, I can tell the difference between practice and practise, I know when to use an Oxford comma, and I know when to use a hyphen instead of an em-dash. I have all the technical aspects of writing down to an art, especially British English. My idea of a rebellion, nowadays, is to start a sentence with a preposition or to leave the period out at the end of a sentence.

But the ease with which I could write fiction is gone. I am no longer a story teller. I don’t know if it’s the TL; DR era we’re living in that has led to this or if I’ve just left my think tank to rust. I read at a ridiculous rate, I devour TV shows at world-record levels, and yet I am lacking the spark.

And yet, here I am typing at 300 words about a nothing sort of subject. So the machine works, how do you get an old beast like this up and running? What do you do when you are uninspired and wordless?

HELP!