Louise O'Neill: Where is the patience when it comes to our emotional resilience?

What would our lives look like if we reframed the act of taking care of ourselves? That rather than seeing it as a duty or a chore, we do it because it makes us feel good. We are worthy of that

Louise O'Neill, author. Photograph Moya Nolan

I’m often asked if I believed in writer’s block. Obviously, I believe in it as a concept — I’m currently trying to come up with an idea for a new book and my mind resembles a Black Hole — but I try not to give it too much credence. Writer’s block, like anything else, can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I think of the wonderful Maeve Binchy, and how she said she couldn’t have writer’s block because she had to file a column every week for the Irish Times. If she didn’t write it, there would be a blank space in the paper.