I hate when it comes time to write my weekly column and I have nothing to say.

It happens more often than I would like it to. But it has been quite a while since I stared at a blank Word document and tried to come up with something to say.

It is not like there are not things going on which I could probably babble on about. I just cannot think of one today that interests me enough to give my opinion on.

Words are of course a writer’s best friend, but when they fail to come easily or they do not come at all, they can be a curse.

Nothing is worse than a writer who cannot figure out what to write about. If I was working on a sports story then it would be easy to come up with a topic because there are plenty of things going on in the final days of the 2017-18 sports year.

But a column is a different animal all together.

Giving your opinion is easy enough, but when you are a columnist, you have to have more than a few ideas to spout off about.

You can be complimentary to someone or something. You can be critical just as easily.

But there has to be some depth to what you are spouting off about. After all, this is not Facebook where you simply tell everyone about everything you are doing, or as I see more and more, you rip someone a new one without justification in most instances.

No, columns are more than just a few words strung out in hopefully complete and coherent sentences.

You hope to enlighten people with your words. You hope to inspire them. You even hope to promote change if that is what is needed.

Yet here I am at 11:45 a.m. trying to figure out something cleaver to say.

But words fail me on this day.

Perhaps it is because it is Monday, it has been storming, and I am waiting to see what games will be played.

The motivation just does not seem to be there this morning.

But here I am, sitting at my desk, banging on the keyboard, hoping, praying that something ignites my creative juices.

As I have plenty of other things to get working on, I guess it is time to give up and move on.

Hey, as I cross the 400-word plateau, I guess I had something to say after all.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com.