How do you overcome writer's block?
"The writer's duty is to keep on writing," said novelist William Styron. But what do you do when you simply can't write--when that blank screen or empty page seems to be mocking your inability to come up with an idea or compose a decent sentence?
What you could do is consider the advice offered by these 12 professional writers.
- Don't concede it exists.
(Richard Ford) - Ignore it: you never stop speaking; why stop writing?
(Quentin Crisp) - Take a walk.
(Nancy Hathaway) - Read.
(Amy Wallace) - Take five ice cubes, place in clean glass, add vodka.
(Phil Mushnick) - Try the element of surprise: attack it at an hour when it isn't expecting it.
(H.G. Wells) - Apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.
(Mary Heaton Vorse) - Pretend to be writing to an aunt.
(John Steinbeck) - Write badly. Bad writing is easier.
(P.J. O'Rourke) - Write anything, anything at all that comes into your head.
(Stephen Spender) - Feel panic at how quickly life slips by. Get to work.
(Nicholson Baker) - Prescription for writer's block: Begin.
(Cynthia Ozick)
For more advice on beating the block, see Writers on Writing: Overcoming Writer's Block.
