My holiday gift to you: Writer's block!

So I thought last week, man, I haven't written a new story in well over a year. I'd like to put one together as a little holiday surprise for the community. Not that anybody is eagerly awaiting my next piece of crap, mind you, but I feel happiest when I'm releasing projects into the community instead of just maintaining a few message boards and whatnot. I can't draw, and most of Cyndi's projects remain private affairs, so other than coughing up a few bucks to commission pieces of art to share with everybody, all I've got is my writing.

So I started thinking about the various idea fragments sitting on my hard drive. I have a few paragraphs here and there that need a story built around them. I have a stray concept here, a story name or a character name over there...nothing concrete. Might as well start from scratch.

And then it all went black, when I slammed into a giant writer's block.

The reason I write so infrequently is twofold. First, I write and edit stuff all day long--I'm a writer/editor--and I always seem to be spending time in front of words, trying to make them better, one way or another. And when I do write at home, it's more likely to be on the book I'm writing instead of the dirty stories. Either way, it's work.

Second, and more importantly...I just don't have any more good ideas. Those fragments lying around are fragments for a reason. Everything that comes to mind has been done. Magic? Science? Fizzy lifting drinks? No explanation? Hardcore? Software? Clothing? I get a been-there-done-that feeling, because I can think of great stories on each topic that other people have already written, and I don't think I'd be able to do any better. I like bringing something fresh, even if the expansion sequences often use the same words.

I have considered taking one of my existing stories and doing a sequel, so as to remove that problem of coming up with an original idea. I already took that shortcut once with Cindairella so that's out. I don't really know where to take Self-Control, because it's self-contained. The whole story kind of exists because it plays on that first-thrill concept. I suppose I could do the next stage in Everything but that's a dark one and I'm kind of surprised I went there in the first place. I like Remote Possibilities and Sievert would likely grant me permission to work on a sequel, but I don't know what the next stage in that narrative would be anyway. And while I could do a second part of Liquid Helium, because it's practically gift-wrapped with the ending, I haven't really figured out where I would want that story to go either.

I don't know about other creators, but I also find I have to be ridiculously horny in order to write an inflation story. I kind of have to commit everything to the build-up and payoff--I kind of have to be there, mentally, in all those stages all the way through. And I don't think I have to explain that those exciting moments are hard to prolong for 45 minutes while you go back and edit every line for maximum impact.

So I guess what I'm saying is, happy holidays, everybody, I got you nothing. But it was the thought that counts...?