William Stafford vs. Toni Morrison on “Writers' Block”

The great poet William Stafford was often quoted for telling writers to lower their expectations of themselves in order to keep writing.

He is quoted here:

“I believe that the so-called “writing block” is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance. I can imagine a person beginning to feel that he’s not able to write up to that standard he imagines the world has set for him. But to me that’s surrealistic. The only standard I can rationally have is the standard I’m meeting right now. Of course I can write. Anybody can write. People might think that their product is not worthy of the person they assume they are. But it is.”

Nobel-prize winning novelist Toni Morrison shared a different view of it:

“I tell my students there is such a thing as “writer’s block,” and they should respect it. You shouldn’t write through it. It’s blocked because it ought to be blocked, because you haven’t got it right now. All the frustration and nuttiness that comes from “Oh, my God, I cannot write now” should be displaced. It’s just a message to you saying, ‘That’s right, you can’t write now, so don’t.’” -Toni Morrison

Personally, I’m the Stafford camp, being ridiculously hard on myself. The only way to overcome phases of silence it is to remind myself it’s okay to write shit! How do you deal with writer’s block, if you’ve experienced it yourself? Do you write your way through it by “lowering the bar”, or do you step away until you feel ready again?

I look forward to your thoughts!