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

August 5, 2019May 9, 2025 700

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

Just don’t be boring!

Robert Liebmann

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

G.K. Chesterton

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

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

Jeanette Walls

Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home.

John Campbell

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

Gloria Steinem

Don’t annoy an author, you’ll end up in their book and you won’t look good.

Lawrence Wray

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

I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.

Stephen Wright

The road to ignorance is paved with good editors.

George Bernard Shaw

Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.

Michael Burke

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

Critics are people who sit on the mountaintop and look down on the battlefield. When the fighting is finished, they take it upon themselves to come down from the mountain and shoot the survivors.

Robert Altman

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

Oscar Wilde

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

E. L. Doctorow

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

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

Robert A. Heinlein

A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellow man is not conceivable as a writer.

Joseph Conrad

Stories are never too long or too short. They’re too interesting or too boring.