Writer's block can be a good sign, because it often means new meaning is about to emerge, and the key is to learn to revise rather than just fix grammar errors.

When you can't write, maybe you should be happy—this might be the edge of having something new to say. In 1984, Donald Murray wrote in an essay: syntax often breaks down just at the point where a new or significant meaning is beginning to break out.

New meaning, when it breaks through, is clumsy and ugly, but if listened to carefully and nurtured well, it can grow into an important idea. Or it may not; it must be understood first and then discarded.

1. Grammar is not everything in writing

In the AI age, generating grammatically correct first drafts is too cheap. The problem is that when people collaborate with AI, they need to know how to revise—not just fix a few words.

Murray said that the common problem with students is: wherever the teacher comments, they only fix that, leaving the rest unchanged. Because they don't feel that good writing is not about avoiding grammar mistakes, but about letting meaning grow.

2. What writing classes should teach

Murray argues that teachers should write in class, showing students the repeated struggles of revision. In the AI age, it's better to take an AI-generated draft and guide students to ask editor-like questions, treating the text as fluid.

3. Rewriting is writing itself

In the old classroom, a grammatically correct draft could get a B+. Nowadays, AI first drafts are already grammatically perfect, and even more so outside the classroom—so teaching writing becomes teaching editing. The old 'writing is rewriting' should be reversed: rewriting is writing.

In one line: writing is hard because meaning is struggling, and in the AI age, learning to edit is more important than learning to write.