When your energy and attention are remorselessly drained away by real-life situations.
This is it for me ... I haven't written anything in 9 months now and it's mainly because real life has been keeping me really busy.
But in contrast to what a few others have said (Lynn, CC, Jude), finishing a story makes me *more* likely to write, not less. I draw a great deal of energy from the creation process and when the feedback is coming in, it's like a drug that makes me want more of it. It's when I *stop* writing (the way I have this year) that I start to believe that I may never get back to it.
My one hope right now is that I've gone through this once before a few years ago, and though I was positive that I was done writing, the muse finally came back and I produced several more stories. I just hope history repeats itself and I get that creative drive again. I miss that heady "stop everything to write" feeling.
Kathy
