Comments on: Writer’s Block: What I Believe

By: Chris Walker

Chris Walker — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Wait a minute; Ruhlman, you’re on Twitter? What is this world coming to? I’ve clearly been out of the loop. First Trent Reznor, then Tony Kornheiser, now you?

I may have to finally give in and give this thing a chance.

By: Becky and the Beanstock

Becky and the Beanstock — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Well, I like spinach….

What you’re saying, in a nutshell, and I Believe It’s True, is that you can’t wait around for inspiration. And I expect that this is the real difference between people who write for a living and people who want to. I’m not entirely good at it, but I have to accept the value in sitting there until I’ve eaten the soggy mashed potatoes (’cause that’s what it was in my childhood home. Still not a fan…) I also think that the regularity of routine like that ultimately becomes ritual — which is to say that this is the way you are able to engage all those unconscious parts where real creativity resides. If you make a pact and tbat part knows you’re coming to the table every single day, then eventually it starts showing up too.

By: Fuji Mama

Fuji Mama — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

So well put. It reminds me of my mother’s response growing up to me or my siblings when one of us complained, “Mom, I’m bored.” She would say, “There’s no such thing. Go read a book or run around the block.” Boredom/Writer’s block are labels that we put on ourselves to make us feel better, but I think it is healthier to recognize our occasional difficulty with calling forth words as a necessary part of the process, rather than a hinderance to it.

By: Lisa the Waitress

Lisa the Waitress — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I totally agree with the article.

I do think one weird thing in the world of blogging is needing produce great (okay, at least decent) content on a consistent basis.

Usually my brain is so full of ideas that I can’t write fast enough, so the times when my brain is blank it is very unfamiliar and frustrating, which usually makes the problem worse, because I also agree with what Miss T said above – you have to relax and let your brain work through it for a bit.

By: Pamela Sheldon Johns

Pamela Sheldon Johns — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

For me, writer’s block is a LUXURY. I have to pound out my thoughts in ten-minute spurts between driving my tractor, dealing with my 12-year-old, teaching cooking classes, responding to emails for my Bed & Breakfast, and -oh gosh- you don’t want to know what else.
I can’t imagine being able to sit at the computer with nothing to write.
So, maybe that is the answer for those with writer’s block. Stay very busy, let your head fill with words, and then sit down and let it spill.
Pamela in Tuscany

By: Miss T

Miss T — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I don’t believe writer’s block is laziness. I believe it’s the manner in which the subconscious forces us to take a break so that it can work through ideas in peace. I always emerge from even the most frustrating periods of writer’s block with new ideas, but they don’t come if I try to force the work.

By: DJK

DJK — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

How is it that we’ve made it this far without anyone asking why you have a rug on your desk?

By: Jess

Jess — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

@djk, if it what I recognise it to be, since I have the same, it is a mouse pad.

By: Tags

Tags — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Here’s someone who apparently never had to worry about writer’s block

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Reinfeld

By: John Dennison

John Dennison — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

To create something where there is nothing is indeed a great human compulsion, but only for those able to see it.

By: david lebovitz

david lebovitz — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I think at some point, it’s inevitable if you’re writing about the same topic (be it food, architecture, gardening, or medicine) to reach a point where you hit a block as to what to say. Unlike physical jobs, you can’t just “turn it on” and write all the time. I’ve done both and each poses their particular challenges: for the writer, it’s sitting down and using your mind to think of something to say in a creative way, and that doesn’t always just come when you want it to.

Plus it doesn’t help if you’re home with your blog, kids, Twitter, the internet, a fridge full of food, or other obstacles, either.

By: Geof

Geof — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

The Chef’s ethos indeed. “a Chef would make it in” is the line from that book that continues to stick with me.

By: Walter E. (Skip) Kennon

Walter E. (Skip) Kennon — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Robert McKee in his screenwriting course STORY calls “writer’s block” a lack of research. I.E., nothing to write about. You have to read, dream, make new associations, find new metaphors. I believe this is true whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction. Not all of the writing process is done at the desk.

By: Jess

Jess — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

When I used to write in a more professional way I would hit a solid wall. Because I wrote reports and investigative memos along with transplation on freelance basis I had an office with co-workers as well as working from home. Thus I just had to write irregardless of wanting to or not. The thing Had To Be Done. Period. Having specified working hours between 8 – 4.30 helped. You just mugged your way through it. Working from home was different, those drinks called me oh so many times.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Well said. Now, I think there’s a cocktail calling my name….

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

“There are those . . . who think that the man who works with his imagination should allow himself to wait till–inspiration moves him. When I have heard such doctrine preached, I have hardly been able to repress my scorn. To me it would not be more absurd if the shoemaker were to wait for inspiration, or the tallow-chandler for the divine moment of melting.”
(Anthony Trollope, An Autobiography, 1883)

By: Indeo

Indeo — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

As a “working writer” with over 300 published short stories, 9 books, a dozen (or so) sold screenplays, various graphic novels and an anime, I would often mock those with “writer’s block.” Until I had it. I missed 2 deadlines and lost some income for 6 months. I didn’t stop writing– I only stopped writing anything worthwhile. It took some time, but I (finally!) broke through my funk. I discovered it wasn’t really a “block”– it was a “challenge” to create something new.

By: Rita

Rita — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

For MONTHS I’ve been wondering where all my favorite pens went! NO WONDER I can’t write anything.

By: Greg Turner

Greg Turner — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I love this post. Period.

By: mirinblue

mirinblue — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

HUH! I have read all of your books and Walk on Water was my absolute favorite.

I am interested in your observation that the true ending was in the middle of the book-could you address what parts you thought were out-of-order? I will then re-read it “your way”!

Thanks