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...

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

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.

Matthew Arnold

If you start with a bang, you won’t end with a whimper.

T.S. Eliot

It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil, trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.

William Faulkner

If you haven’t got an idea, start a story anyway. You can always throw it away, and maybe by the time you get to the fourth page you will have an idea, and you’ll only have to throw away the first three pages.

William C. Gault

Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.

Edward Albee

It’s an accepted fact that all writers are crazy; even the normal ones are weird.

William Goldman

What I loved most about calling myself a reporter was that it gave me an excuse to show up anyplace.

Jeanette Walls

If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it’s to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel.

Jim Morrison

Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.

Gloria Steinem

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

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

G.K. Chesterton

I write the last line, and then I write the line before that. I find myself writing backwards for a while, until I have a solid sense of how that ending sounds and feels. You have to know what your voice sounds like at the end of the story, because it tells you how to sound when you begin.

John Irving

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

Jodi Picoult

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

Lisa See

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

Stephen Leigh

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

Oscar Wilde

Work on a computer that is disconnected from the Internet.

Zadie Smith

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

Robert A. Heinlein

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.