writer-s-block

I gradually realized that I was seeing another example of creative ebb, another step by another art on the road that may indeed end in extinction.

I write whenever it suits me. During a creative period I write every day a novel should not be interrupted.

I'm sitting in my office trying to squeeze a story from my head. It is that kind of morning when you feel like melting the typewriter into a bar of steel and clubbing yourself to death with it. (__dvance Notice_)

Writer's block' is just a fancy way of saying 'I don't feel like doing any work today.

People wonder why so many writers come to live in Paris. I__e been living ten years in Paris and the answer seems simple to me: because it__ the best place to pick ideas. Just like Italy, Spain.. or Iran are the best places to pick saffron. If you want to pick opium poppies you go to Burma or South-East Asia. And if you want to pick novel ideas, you go to Paris.

If your wife locks you out of the house, you don't have a problem with your door.

Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes.

The problem is acceptance, which is something we're taught not to do. We're taught to improve uncomfortable situations, to change things, alleviate unpleasant feelings. But if you accept the reality that you have been given- that you are not in a productive creative period- you free yourself to begin filling up again.

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.

Ugh, writer's block. The best thing to do is to forget about everything you're trying to do. Get away from your writing station, kick your feet up and relax. Then allow your mind to just wander. Don't stop it. Just let yourself think of anything, no mater how silly the thoughts seem. Remember, not to judge these thoughts. This will open up your creative receptors. You'll begin to think outside the box. Then the good stuff will start racing through you. That's when you start writing!

There is indeed one person who can help solve __riter__ block_. His name is Mr Johnnie Walker.

On No Work of WordsOn no work of words now for three lean months in the bloodyBelly of the rich year and the big purse of my bodyI bitterly take to task my poverty and craft:To take to give is all, return what is hungrily givenPuffing the pounds of manna up through the dew to heaven,The lovely gift of the gab bangs back on a blind shaft.To lift to leave from the treasures of man is pleasing deathThat will rake at last all currencies of the marked breathAnd count the taken, forsaken mysteries in a bad dark.To surrender now is to pay the expensive ogre twice.Ancient woods of my blood, dash down to the nut of the seasIf I take to burn or return this world which is each man's work.

I've always said "Writer's Block" is a myth. There is no such thing as writer's block, only writers trying to force something that isn't ready yet. Sometimes I don't write for weeks. And then all of the sudden I'll get a rush of inspiration and you can't drag me away from my notebook. But I don't stress out if I don't hit some arbitrary word count each day or if I go a few days without writing something.

Remember...Keystrokes are hammer taps. Get words on paper. Don__ worry about connections, character or plot. Work for an hour. Promise yourself an hour. Do nothing else but move your fingers. Make coarse shapes. Follow any emotion that pops up but never impose emotion, never fake it, and don__ make up your mind or your heart ahead of time. Understand you don__ know what you__e doing. That__ why you__e here. Rough it out. Anything goes. You can decide later what any piece of text looks like, what it might mean. Don__ stop. Don__ question. Don__ quit. Don__ stop to read what you wrote. Move your fingers. You mind will have no other option but to keep up. Remember that writer__ block is merely the cold marble waiting for the chisel to heat up.

Writer's Block: making authors miserable since the Stone Age.

Writing is like knitting. Stitch after stitch, word by word, and before you know it you have a book ... or a jumper!

Don't let writers block push you around. Figure out what the problem is,whether it's with the ms or it's in your personal life, and face it head on. Don't stop writing. Just try really hard to work through it.

Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.