I came across an internet piece about authors’ advice on
writer’s block. I think writer’s block is bullshit and just a fancy term for
laziness, but I liked the stuff below.
“Now, what I’m thinking of is, people always saying “Well,
what do we do about a sudden blockage in your writing? What if you have a
blockage and you don’t know what to do about it?” Well, it’s obvious you’re
doing the wrong thing, don’t you? In the middle of writing something you go
blank and your mind says: “No, that’s it.” Ok. You’re being warned, aren’t you?
Your subconscious is saying “I don’t like you anymore. You’re writing about
things I don’t give a damn for.” You’re being political, or you’re being
socially aware. You’re writing things that will benefit the world. To hell with
that! I don’t write things to benefit the world. If it happens that they do,
swell. I didn’t set out to do that. I set out to have a hell of a lot of fun.
I’ve never worked a day in my life. I’ve never worked a day
in my life. The joy of writing has propelled me from day to day and year to
year. I want you to envy me, my joy. Get out of here tonight and say: ‘Am I
being joyful?’ And if you’ve got a writer’s block, you can cure it this evening
by stopping whatever you’re writing and doing something else. You picked the
wrong subject.” — Ray Bradbury at The Sixth Annual Writer’s Symposium by the
Sea, 2001
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret
of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small
manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” — Mark Twain
I think this is absolutely true:
“Writer’s block…a lot of howling nonsense would be avoided
if, in every sentence containing the word WRITER, that word was taken out and
the word PLUMBER substituted; and the result examined for the sense it makes.
Do plumbers get plumber’s block? What would you think of a plumber who used
that as an excuse not to do any work that day?
The fact is that writing is hard work, and sometimes you
don’t want to do it, and you can’t think of what to write next, and you’re fed
up with the whole damn business. Do you think plumbers don’t feel like that
about their work from time to time? Of course there will be days when the stuff
is not flowing freely. What you do then is MAKE IT UP. I like the reply of the
composer Shostakovich to a student who complained that he couldn’t find a theme
for his second movement. “Never mind the theme! Just write the movement!” he
said.
Writer’s block is a condition that affects amateurs and
people who aren’t serious about writing. So is the opposite, namely
inspiration, which amateurs are also very fond of. Putting it another way: a
professional writer is someone who writes just as well when they’re not
inspired as when they are.” — Philip Pullman
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