My brain has been sitting across the room from me with its arms folded. It’s not given up anything: a workable idea, an intriguing metaphor or even a cool word. I’ve tried cajoling, bribing and even a few threats. But it continues to hold out on me. The standoff started a few days ago. I’m crazy excited about a new project and have been trying to grab every spare moment to write. Things were firing along nicely; the idea engine was cranking and the language had…