Writers often come up against what they term ‘writers’ block’ when they cannot start a book because they have no new ideas or they are in the middle of a work and they do not know where to go with it. They can take as many strategies to get over this as there are writers. Sometimes it takes a lot of drink, other times no more than a casual walk. The mind is a strange creature and whatever they are doing it is working away on the problem. Writing can be very hard, there is no reason to suppose it should be straightforward. It takes all one’s energy, all one’s time to do it well.
That’s why if you have a job you do and you write in your spare time – you are not a writer.