Writing (or attempting to) my novel PART III

I woke up at 6:15 this morning to a quiet house and decided I was going to really get going on the novel.  I opened a word document and did a save as "novel.docx" (what is with the "x" by the way?) For a brief moment, things were really coming together.  But then I ran into what writers dread more than anything else in the world: writers block.

Now is it even fair for someone who has not written a single word to say they have writers block?  There is no evidence that anything is actually being blocked.  I could just as easily say I am going to be a professional golfer but have the yips.  I am equally not writing and not playing golf to the same degree, right?  WRONG.  I have actively been brainstorming ideas for the novel as well as discussing it with friends and family.  So, yes, there are potential words to be written and they are being blocked.  And writers block is a son of a bitch.  I just wish F. Scott were around today so he could tell me how he worked through it.  My guess would be alcoholism and prolonged bouts of depression.  That does not sound appealing necessarily, but sacrifices have to be made for any craft.

Before I pour a 7 a.m. drink, I am going to try a different unblocking method.  If you remember from "Writing my novel PART I", I was advised from a google search to write a one sentence summary of my novel before actually beginning to write it.  And if I can not do that then I am still in the pre-writing stage.  I am most certainly still in the pre-writing stage.  I just hope I have not "friend-zoned" myself to the pre-writing stage.  

I like to think that blogging about writing a novel is my pre-writing.  Unfortunately all this has produced is a main character name (Ted, badass name) and a few loose ideas such as a trip to Paris (badass city), and a favorite band.  I am scrapping everything except for the name and (maybe) the trip to Paris.  I need an occupation and a time-frame in which the novel is going to take place.  From that will come my one sentence summary and we can move onto step 2.  

Here goes:

A young professor uses an involuntary semester-long sabbatical to discover himself and look for love.

Proctorstype 1, Writers block 0