You’ve heard of writer’s block. But have you heard of reader’s block?

05 Aug, 2019

I found this in the August 2nd, 2019, New York Times. Fun reading...if you're not suffering from reader's block: Reader's block article

You’ve heard of writer’s block. But have you heard of reader’s block?

August 5, 2019June 5, 2026

I found this in the August 2nd, 2019, New York Times. Fun reading…if you’re not suffering from reader’s block: Read More...

The fact is, I don’t know where my ideas come from. Nor does any writer. The only real answer is to drink way too much coffee and buy yourself a desk that doesn’t collapse when you beat your head against it.

Douglas Adams

Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.

Truman Capote Quote

Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk — away from any open flames — to remind yourself that if you don’t write daily, you will get rusty.

George Singleton

The character that lasts is an ordinary guy with some extraordinary qualities.

Raymond Chandler

A writer is a world trapped in a person.

Victor Hugo

I do not over-intellectualize the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.

Tom Clancy

Thank your readers and the critics who praise you, and then ignore them. Write for the most intelligent, wittiest, wisest audience in the universe: Write to please yourself.

Harlan Ellison

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

G.K. Chesterton

A true author, no matter the medium, is an artist with godlike knowledge of his subject, and the proof of his authorship is that his pages smack of authority.

Robert McKee

Plot is, I think, the good writer’s last resort and the dullard’s first choice.

Stephen King

You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.

Jodi Picoult

I get up in the morning, torture a typewriter until it screams, then stop.

Clarence Budington Kelland

A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellow man is not conceivable as a writer.

Joseph Conrad

Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river.

Lisa See

Biography should be written by an acute enemy.

Arthur Balfour

It always comes down to characters, and individual stories about courage.

Steven Bochco

It is only natural to pattern yourself after someone. But you can’t just copy someone. If you like someone’s work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to.

Bob Dylan

Critics are people who sit on the mountaintop and look down on the battlefield. When the fighting is finished, they take it upon themselves to come down from the mountain and shoot the survivors.

Robert Altman

I have a structured songwriting process. I start with the music and try to come up with musical ideas, then the melody, then the hook, and the lyrics come last.

John Legend

You may be able to take a break from writing, but you won’t be able to take a break from being a writer.