Every hobby and occupation comes with its drawbacks, just as it comes with its set of benefits. That's what living life as a human is all about: finding a set of benefits that outweigh the drawbacks and hoping to do something productive with the overall outcome.

As a writer, sometimes the line between benefit and drawback are severely blurred until you're left stumbling around, blind, in a maze of dumb ideas, pointless plots, and underdeveloped characters. Welcome to the hell that is the land of writer's block.

1. Trying to find the perfect idea

No matter what Ernest Hemingway tells you, it is not as simple as "sitting behind a typewriter" and "bleeding." In fact, it may feel like bleeding but it looks a lot like banging your head against any and every inanimate object in hopes of knocking loose the next Great American Novel. Or at least a book that sells copies to your mother.

2. When people ask you if you've started any new projects lately

We get it. You just want to know if you can look forward to reading our latest work...or you're just concerned that we've wasted too much time playing Candy Crush lately. Either way, most writers, especially those of us entangled in the seemingly endless snare of writer's block, will lie straight to your face when posed with the question "so, anything new you're working on?"

3. Finally sitting behind the keyboard again

Whether it takes a serious kick in the rear from a friend, a family member, an employer, or the little voice inside your head that tells you "don't eat another bag of Doritos" that you don't usually listen to, you eventually get back to work. Sitting behind the keyboard can feel as awkward as running into an ex that you tried to ghost for a few months while you're out at the grocery store with your new flame. Sitting behind that keyboard again is like facing all of your past victories and failures all at one time. Simply put, it is both the most painful and the most exciting moment in the process of returning to the writing process.

4. All of the strain

Writing, in many ways, is like a process of childbirth and childrearing. You create this idea and nurture it for a while within yourself (stay with me here, I promise I'm going somewhere with this.) After a while, you start to realize the true form of the thing, it starts to have a physical presence that you can be entirely aware of. Then there comes the period of strain and pain. All the swelling, nausea, and pain of the push...it's a lot like how I would imagine childbirth to be. One final parallel? Most people that are only involved in the outskirts of the process (the readers) are the ones immediately saying "let's have another" after first witnessing the final product. Writers, on the other hand, are in no hurry to go through that again.

5. The worth of self-deprecation

In most settings, depreciation and loathing can be dangerous things. It can destroy your self-esteem and make you the biggest pessimist known to man. If you experience all of those things, welcome to the realm of the writer. We're here, we're full of angst and disgust, and you will read our novels...and you will love them.

6. That last, silly strand of hope that makes you question both your sanity and your maturity

Face it, we've all sat behind a computer screen and just typed passive-aggressive sentences on assignments we have not wanted to or resented being forced to complete. For writers, this can produce some of the most eloquent prose known to man....sometimes. Sometimes it just makes you wonder how you haven't been sent in for testing.

7. The "well it was nice while it lasted" moment

There comes a time in every writer's life where they just...give up. The point at which you just become too frustrated, too full of hate, too exhausted, too hungry, too tired of watching that blinking cursor for hours and hours on end that you just slam a hand into your keyboard and decide to go take a nap. Give in, you've earned it after four hours of screaming at the devilish winking of that taunting cursor.

8. The "but what if..." moment

It's here, it's here! It's finally here! The moment that you've been waiting for, the grand resolution, the great revelation, it's here! Whether it's the addition of a new character, a comedic scene, a new symbol, an ingenious motif, or the gory slaughter of the main character, you've finally realized exactly what your story needed to get back on its feet! Waste no time, throw yourself behind that computer screen and don't come back until you've written the next Great American Novel.

9. Realizing you may have to change your favorite character entirely

You know that running joke in the "fandoms" around the Internet that says it's always so much easier to fall in love with fictional characters than it is a real person? Imagine falling in love with a character that you created. That's a stronger connection than even the romantic relationship that even the craziest of fans form with fictional characters. Again, that character is your child and you want them to grow up to act exactly the way you "raised" them. However, there comes a time in every author's career that you realize your character has bigger plans for themselves than you had in mind for them. Just trust the characters, they've had a good upbringing for whatever plot point they're destined to assist.

10. Deciding "maybe it's time to give up and get a 'real job'"

Face it, a lot of authors just don't make a lot of money. New authors rarely make any money. In a country that requires money to do, well, anything, having a job that has little security for your financial future can be tough. Sure, it can be bad when your work just isn't selling but things get really rocky when you can't even start to piece together something to even attempt to sell. If your heart's really in writing, you'll find your way back to the plot eventually. Just keep writing.

11. Turning to "unconventional" sources for inspiration

Yes, the Internet has a glaring reputation for being a deep, dark, and terrifyingly strange place. I mean, what other media source allows you to watch hours upon hours of cat videos on one end and hack into computers half a world away on the other end? As long as you tend to stay on the "cat video" end, you should definitely take advantage of all the weird, wonderful things that the Worldwide Web has to offer! Seriously, some of those creepy computer nerds that will never see the outside of their mother's basement have some pretty cool ideas. See where their type of thinking can take your own mind. You never know, you might just be thanking them for the dedication of the next New York Times Bestseller.

12. Working hard or hardly working

Before you can fully return to the normality of the creative writing process (if such a thing even exists,) you must first go through a period of purgatory. Yes, purgatory. You aren't quite being productive with your time behind the keys buy you aren't exactly wasting away either. You're just...waiting. Waiting for an idea, a first sentence, a character...just waiting for something to kick you into high gear.

13. When the perfect idea finally hits

Eventually, the perfect idea comes along. You have your "aha" moment and all is right with the world again. You fly to your desk, trip over your cat, slide all of the empty cans and snack wrappers off of your desk, sling open your laptop, and click away viciously until your brainchild has been fully birthed onto the screen before you. Congratulations!

14. Settling into the comfort of a new story

Now that the ball is finally rolling again, pat yourself on the back! Not only have you found your inspiration, but you have found yourself again!

All writers experience the pain of writer's block. It is one of the most frustrating and most inspirational processes of any successful author's career. Nothing hurts worse than feeling like a failure at the one thing you love, sometimes more than life itself, but nothing feels better than the satisfaction of jumping on the horse for another adventurous tale after a long battle with writer's block.

Just stick it out.