Writer's Block Quotes - Page 3

• A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.

  Thomas Mann

  Writing, People, Difficult

  "Essays of Three Decades". Book by Thomas Mann, 1942.

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• Art is not in some far-off place.

  Lydia Davis

  Art, Art Is, Writer's Block

  Lydia Davis (2008). “Break It Down: Stories”, p.59, Macmillan

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• Fool," said my muse to me. "Look in thy heart and write.

  Philip Sidney

  Writing, Heart, Looks

  'Astrophel and Stella' (1591) sonnet 1

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• I haven't had writer's block. I think it's because my process involves writing very badly.

  Jennifer Egan

  Block, Writing, Thinking

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• Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.

  Barbara Kingsolver

  Writing, Creativity, People

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• Writing is something that you don't know how to do. You sit down and it's something that happens, or it may not happen. So, how can you teach anybody how to write? It's beyond me, because you yourself don't even know if you're going to be able to. I'm always worried, well, you know, every time I go upstairs with my wine bottle. Sometimes I'll sit at that typewriter for fifteen minutes, you know. I don't go up there to write. The typewriter's up there. If it doesn't start moving, I say, well this could be the night that I hit the dust.

  Charles Bukowski

  Fear, Moving, Wine

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• Writer’s block is my unconscious mind telling me that something I’ve just written is either unbelievable or unimportant to me, and I solve it by going back and reinventing some part of what I’ve already written so that when I write it again, it is believable and interesting to me. Then I can go on. Writer’s block is never solved by forcing oneself to “write through it,” because you haven’t solved the problem that caused your unconscious mind to rebel against the story, so it still won’t work – for you or for the reader.

  Orson Scott Card

  Block, Writing, Interesting

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• Writer’s block results from too much head. Cut off your head. Pegasus, poetry, was born of Medusa when her head was cut off. You have to be reckless when writing. Be as crazy as your conscience allows.

  Joseph Campbell

  Inspirational, Block, Crazy

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• Many times, what people call 'writer's block' is the confusion that happens when a writer has a great idea, but their writing skill is not up to the task of putting that idea down on paper. I think that learning the craft of writing is critical.

  Pearl Cleage

  Block, Writing, Thinking

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• Unlike some of my peers, I haven't really hit a writer's block. When I hit a block I just paint, which is an old crop rotation trick.

  Joni Mitchell

  Block, Peers, Rotation

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• Nothing's a better cure for writer's block than to eat ice cream right out of the carton.

  Don Roff

  Block, Writing, Ice Cream

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Writer's block is a fancy term made up by whiners so they can have an excuse to drink alcohol.

  Steve Martin

  Funny, Block, Drinking

  FaceBook post by Steve Martin from Aug 23, 2011

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• If surgeons don't get surgeon's block, then why are you allowed to get writer's block?

  Cory Doctorow

  Block, Surgeons, Ifs

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• Usually writer's block arises when something is wrong internally with the story.

  Meg Cabot

  Block, Stories, Arise

  "Writing Tips from Meg Cabot!". www.seventeen.com. September 4, 2008.

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• There is no such thing as writer's block. There is only not enough information. If you can't write, learn something.

  Nikki Giovanni

  Block, Writing, Information

  Source: virtualstudiosandarttherapy.wordpress.com

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• I work on multiple projects at a time because it keeps me from getting writer's block.

  Diana Gabaldon

  Block, Projects, Multiple

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• Sometimes writer's block is no more than a signal that you have not done enough research.

  Sophy Burnham

  Block, Writing, Done

  Sophy Burnham (2011). “For Writers Only: Inspiring Thoughts on the Exquisite Pain and Heady Joy of the Writing Life from Its Great Practitioners”, p.148, Penguin

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• I don't believe in "writer's block". I try and deal with getting stuck by having more than one thing to work on at a time. And by knowing that even a hundred bad words that didn't exist before is forward progress.

  Neil Gaiman

  Block, Believe, Knowing

  "Interview with Neil Gaiman". Writers and Artists Interview, www.writersandartists.co.uk.

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• I suspect that writer's block afflicts mainly people who have some stable and ample source of income outside of writing. So far it hasn't been a problem.

  Fred Saberhagen

  Block, Writing, People

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• I don't believe in writer's block. There are good days when you're writing and less good days. I've learned that if it's not happening to walk away and return later. I doodle a lot and often get my best ideas with a pencil in my hand while I'm doodling. The problem is, sometimes I lose my doodles and that's bad!

  Judy Blume

  Block, Believe, Good Day

  "Judy Blume’s Online Chat for the New York Public Library". www.judyblume.com. November 19, 2002.

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• I don't think that writer's block exists really. I think that when you're trying to do something prematurely, it just won't come. Certain subjects just need time, as I've learned over and over again. You've got to wait before you write about them.

  Joyce Carol Oates

  Block, Writing, Thinking

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• When faced with writer's block, lower your standards and keep going.

  Sandra Tsing Loh

  Block, Standards, Keep Going

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• There is no writer's block in a newsroom. There's only unemployment block.

  Carl Hiaasen

  Block, Unemployment, Writer's Block

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• Music is storming, driving, relentless, devotional, slinky, subtle, heartbreakingly-beautiful sounds that, lyrically, switch from the cynical to the sanguine, the defeated to the defiant, dealing in love, war, beauty, children, romance, rejection, Pethedine, poetry, panties, God, Auden, Johnny Cash, cold potatoes, too-much-money, not enough money, writer’s block, flowers, animals and more flowers. But maybe I’m projecting here.

  Nick Cave

  Beautiful, Children, Block

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• I might have missed my calling as an editor. In the spring, the sight of my empty garden beds gives me the horticultural equivalent of writers' block: So much space! So many plants to choose among, and yet none of them seem quite right!

  Susan Orlean

  Block, Spring, Garden

  "Prune" by Susan Orlean, www.newyorker.com. September 28, 2010.

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