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

August 5, 2019May 9, 2025 687

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

My aim is to put down what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way I can tell it.

Ernest Hemingway

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.

Anton Chekhov

Ever heard of a carpenter not going to work because he has “carpenter’s block”? If a writer can’t write, it’s because he doesn’t really want to, he isn’t ready to get it on paper or he’s just plain lazy.

Chet Cunningham

A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it to be God.

Sidney Sheldon

To me, movies and music go hand in hand. When I’m writing a script, one of the first things I do is find the music I’m going to play for the opening sequence.

Quentin Tarantino

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.

Orson Scott Card

Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Mark Twain

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.

Christopher Hampton

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

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

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

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

Edward Albee

It is perfectly okay to write garbage — as long as you edit brilliantly.

C. J. Cherryh

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

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

Raymond Chandler

Every writer with half a brain knows to surround himself or herself with editors who are smarter, far more articulate and infinitely better looking.

Chris Claremont

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

Just don’t be boring!

Robert Liebmann

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

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