Hi Margaret,
Funny, but I would have to disagree.
I think people say they have writer's block after they have already written some things, and I don't think anybody is ever exactly empty. It could happen that at the beginning you don't know how to write, or how to find your style, something of the sort, but then after you wrote a bit, the problem is not so much that. And then, the idea of being empty I find ludicrous.
What could be empty? People are never empty. There are always things one can write about. The problem is you don't know how to start. Either you can't express yourself, which is a very similar feeling to being constipated - you feel like something needs to come out, you don't know what it is, or how to get it to come out (sorry if this is a bit gross), or you can express yourself, but are simply not sure what you want to express. You simply have too many things you want to say, and nothing can come out, again, similar to constipation.
Anyway, I can continue with the analogy, but in general, I just don't think people are ever empty. Ever. Even babies - they just can't yet express themselves.

Is it a funny description though - yup. That's probably more what she cared about, like so many reviewers who decide what to write on a film or book mostly based on the merit of the interesting puns they can come up with.
I think this is one of the dangers of authors, and people who write very well. They wrap their lies so beautifully that people simply want to buy it. It's all in the package. This is definitely one of the dangers of good writers.

But then again, I'm not one to necessarily champion truth in books, and If she has a point, if, as I haven't read her, if it leads somewhere, then maybe it's good.

Just a remark, I think it depends on what one means by "empty." Empty of material, of ideas, no -- here I agree with Chris. But certainly sometimes in the midst of a very long project there are moments where it feels that the fuel gauge is empty. A curious phenomenon, akin to what happens "hitting a wall" in the midst of running. You are still there, your entire body, its three dimensions, its bulk, all of its potential for movement -- but somehow the motion has run itself out. And once you again acquire this comparatively inconsequential thing, the whole structure can again be put to use.

Hi Mia,
Nice remark. I think this definitely exists, and it's quite hard to finish a book. Yes, you feel your fuel finishing and have to force yourself to finish maybe, but I really don't think this is what people mean when they use the words "Writer's block." When people say this they usually say it to mean they find it hard to start writing, or at most start a new chapter, but really mostly that they simply can't start writing.