Tuesday, June 30, 2009

'Writer's Block'

Michael Ruhlman on writer's block:

When I put up a recent tweet saying writer's block was nothing more than an attempt to justify your own laziness (and not recognizing this was simply lying to yourself), I got a number of angry RT's calling me (at best) smug. To those whom I angered I would say, that's a common response when someone takes away a crutch.

If there is a problem with Twitter though, it’s an inability to express nuance (for most of us, anyway, who don’t have the poet’s genius for condensation).

But here I can say, re: writer’s block: This I Believe:

The phrase writer’s block is an excuse that should be used only by the weak and delusional (or as lighthearted slang for “It’s cocktail time somewhere!”). If you must put a tag on your inability to produce, be my guest. We all know what it means.
Oh-oh.
*
(I've actually always refused to use that term, not that my production is much the better for it.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think I have reader's block these days (except when it comes to your blog, of course, which I drop everything for). In this no-attention-span time, I find this new acronym useful: TLDR (Too Long, Didn't Read).