What's the Worst that could Happen?

As a writer what is the worst thing that could happen to you?

For myself, I would have to say none of these options actually apply to me. Although terrible in their own right, the worst that could happen to me is not being able to be creative at all. So the closest would be the permanent writer's block.

I've had enough computers crap out on me I know to back everything up. Some for the notes and having your work stollen. You should always be able to prove something is yours and while someone taking it as their own would be a pain, I know it's happened to me, normally if you have proof they're the ones that come out of it the worst for it. Being told you suck is no fun, but that's just one person's opinion usually and I don't really get worked up over opinions. Neverending writers block would be the worst, because it would mean your days as a writer are over.

Having a writer's block would definitely by my worst happening. Not being able to put whatever is on my mind to paper would be really bad. Having a head full of ideas but no way to put it together.

Well given that I lost several stories to a crashed computer which I did not back up, and then my note books got wet and rotted (Well they were not burned but they were destroyed) so I pretty much lost in a year what I have been writing for the past 10 years. Short stories, drawings, just rants and stuff. Nothing epic, but it was ME, it was MINE, and it was the emblem of my creativity.

I try to create things, I try to force new stories to form, grow and take shape, but then I hear the ranting of naysayers and people how ridicule what I have tried to make.

Then one day while I was begging a family member to please read my work and help me correct it, something snapped inside me, like a band stretched too far... a feeling like something fell, or broke within my body or mind, strange as it was, it felt almost physical but it was not.

Now I sit at the computer, and just stare at it, I hear the songs of thousands of tales or woe and heroics. Psalms of love and coming of age. Countless worlds fall before my eyes as my mind forms them from the aether of creation, but my fingers fail to strike a single key and I slowly die inside.

What truly is the worst fate?

I may not know, perhaps my worst fate now might be if I lost hope that some day I'll be able to write again.

All right Snacker and Hydra, the cure for Writer's Block is to write. I say this as someone that has been posting 2,000+ word installments EVERY FIVE DAYS for almost eight complete years. I go through periods where scenes just are not coming into my head, but I hold to my routine and work to put something down. Eventually the few words, maybe a sentence, maybe a paragraph, gets me over a mental hump and the words again flow.

Let me also say that it helps not to concentrate on only one story. I have a lot of 'failed' manuscripts on my computer. If one story runs into a problem, I switch to another. I am sometimes very surprised by what tale takes off, but I go for a ride enjoying every minute.

Note that backing up is smart. I have my 'working' directory where I work on new or unseen material, my 'archives'directory where those stories posted to the internet are stored, my 'bookwork' directory where published manuscripts are stored or those I want to publish are polished, and now a 'gaming' directory where my gaming rules material is set. All of these directories get regularly moved to a 'safer' computer and then copied to a CD.

I believe the worse thing that could happen to me is becoming famous. Right now I post what I want and take what praise/rants come. If I become famous I believe that others will want to limit how much I post and what I post, spoiling my fun.