A set of ideas from a writing teacher on what she is convinced really works: http://www.eduguide.org/Parents-Articles/Getting-Boys-into-Writing-1612.aspx

Originally Posted by Jeanne O'Malley
Here is what I have learned. Many many times a boy has trouble writing because most boys do not write for the fun of it any more than they talk for the fun of it. They talk or write when they have something to say and, having said it, they stop. They would no more rabbit on for the fun of it than the average girl would run laps around the track for the fun of it.

I really like some of these ideas, and I can see why it might be overwhelming for a kid to write "anything you want"...when of course, he wants to write exactly nothing.

For me, GT means Georgia Tech.