Apparently, this is not normal.
Wade Shotter's amazingly funny film, I Will Not Write Unless I Am Swaddled in Furs is about those writers who can't write unless the stars are right, the time is perfect, the reality of the world has been bent to their will. As a guy who knows a lot of writers, I can say that this is both true, and false, but it is not because writing is something that is inherently difficult; it is because the writer demands sacrifice.
Looked at one way, it is the peak of egotism, no? The demand that the world conform to the needs of a singular being who sees themselves as above it. Viewed another, it is the complete surrender to the fear that is putting your words out there, and thus the requirement of the perfect alignment of stars is a way of refraining from putting themselves out there. It is truly either excessive self-love or excessive amounts of fear, supplemented by no small measure of self-loathing.
And that is what the film is about.
It is one of the most beautifully textured films I've seen in years. The cinematography is perfection itself, beautiful and rich, I'd go so far as to call it sumptuous. It's the product of an eye that fully understands not only the function of image to pass along the story, but to instill the sensation of viewing. Too often, that is lost in slickness, but here, it is so pointedly textured with fur and leather and wood. It's so amazing.
John Babbott's article from McSweeney's (https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-will-not-write-unless-i-am-swaddled-in-furs) is excellent, and the treatment on the film is even better!
You can see I Will Not Write Unless I Am Swaddled in Furs as a part of the Something Funny program - https://payments.cinequest.org/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=85260~78899376-35a9-4153-8303-e1557be2dc32&epguid=d52499c1-3164-429f-b057-384dd7ec4b23&#.XGXeKFVKhdg