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- “The Words” – a story of a blocked writer telling a story about a plagiarized story.
- “The Life of Pi” is a tale of writing woes, and a hero with a tiger in his tank
- When enthusiastic feedback activates writer’s block
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Tag Archives: writing advice
“You’ve had the power all along to return to Kansas…and write your novel.”
In the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, when Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, informs Dorothy of her power, she isn’t referring to Dorothy’s writing block, but she could have been. Like a struggling writer who’s lost touch with … Continue reading
Registration is now open for my fall class at Stanford; space is limited
Click this link to go to register for my upcoming class“Overcoming Writing Blocks and Procrastination” (EGL 96, Mondays, 6:30 – 8:45 pm) offered through Stanford University’s Continuing Studies Program, Mondays, 6:30 – 8:45 pm 5 weeks, September 24 – October 22 1 unit(s), $260 … Continue reading
FDR, writing avoidance and the lizard brain
Sometimes when I contemplate facing a writing task I feel an agonizing resistance in my guts, without really understanding why. The most striking experience of this sort occurs when I am doing taxes or writing checks to pay bills. My … Continue reading
I’ll be teaching a Continuing Studies class at Stanford University, beginning September 24th
I am pleased to announce I will be teaching a five-week class through Stanford’s Continuing Education Program beginning on Monday, September 24, 2012 entitled: “Overcoming Writing Blocks and Procrastination.” Registration begins in late August. This class will be limited to 30 participants … Continue reading
Posted in Common Writing Block Problems, Feedback and criticism, PhD and dissertation/thesis writing issues, The Blocked Writer's Book of the Dead, Tips for overcoming writer's block and procrastination
Tagged anxiety and writing, avoid writing, Mental Health and writing, writer's block, writing advice, writing habit change
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Allen Ginsberg Howl-ed his way out of writer’s block
During a period in the mid 1950′s, after he had moved to San Francisco, poet Allen Ginsberg suffered from a year-long writer’s block. He was profoundly unhappy working at an ad agency, and wasn’t writing. Finally, his therapist recommended that he do … Continue reading
A violent, philandering, misogynistic Sean Connery slugs his way out of writer’s block in “A Fine Madness”
One important lesson you learn by watching A Fine Madness , is that you better not mess around with your psychiatrist’s wife. In his portrayal of a wild, rage-aholic, blocked poet named Samson, Sean Connery does just this (in a hot tub … Continue reading
I’m not currently blocked, but I’d like to try the “Buy a Villa in Tuscany” treatment anyway.
The movie Under the Tuscan Sun shows us a treatment option for overcoming writer’s block that is both expensive and time-intensive, but evidently quite effective. Especially if you’ve dreamed of 1)living in sunny Tuscany, 2) having an affair with a sexy … Continue reading
The Tibetan Book of the Dead weighs in on Procrastination
“O procrastinating one, who thinketh not of the coming of death, Devoting thyself to the useless doings of this life, Improvident art thou in dissipating thy great opportunity; Mistaken, indeed, will thy purpose be now if thou returnest empty-handed (without … Continue reading
A writer must learn to deal with the thought, “I would prefer not to.”
In Herman Melville’s story, Bartleby the Scrivener, an exasperated lawyer struggles to make Bartleby, a scrivener who copies legal documents, agree to do even the simplest of work tasks. But no matter what the request is, Bartleby’s response is always the … Continue reading
Writer’s block may pay off after you’re dead – if you can write about it.
At a recent Sotheby’s auction, a short letter written by Franz Kafka to the poet Albert Ehrenstein was sold for $74,500 dollars. In the letter, Kafka complains about his writer’s block. Luckily his block wasn’t so bad that couldn’t write a … Continue reading
