writer’s block

  • The Mentor Series: Lisa Locascio and Aimee Bender

    The Mentor Series: Lisa Locascio and Aimee Bender

    Lisa Locascio interviews her mentor, Aimee Bender.

  • The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #98: Nicky Nodjoumi

    The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #98: Nicky Nodjoumi

    Though some readers of The Rumpus may not have heard of Nicky Nodjoumi, in his native Iran he has achieved the status of a rock star.

  • Womanly Arts

    Womanly Arts

    This is the hearth. This is the knot. This is home. The woman bent over a sewing machine, the steady hum of the motor, the needle rising and sinking.

  • This Week in Essays

    Bookbinding may be a dying art, but at Lit Hub, Dwyer Murphy tells the story of a man who keeps his business going strong on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. For Hazlitt, Suzannah Showler takes a measured look at the prepper…

  • When Procrastination Strikes

    Is there such a thing as writer’s block, or is it simply procrastination? Several authors weigh in on their personal experiences struggling with getting the work done.

  • Blocking Writer’s Block

    The New Yorker’s Maria Konnikova reveals the cause of writer’s block, the psychological state of those that have it and those that don’t, and how to combat it: …many symptoms of writer’s block are the kinds of problems psychiatrists think about.…

  • Writing with Your Fears

    It is easy to forget that fear isn’t a thing—it’s just a feeling to which we have attached a word. It’s a powerful feeling, however, It is so powerful that if I sit in my living room and imagine a killer is…

  • The Rumpus Interview with Yumi Sakugawa

    The Rumpus Interview with Yumi Sakugawa

    Yumi Sakugawa discusses her latest book, Ikebana, discovering meditation, exploring blank spaces, and drawing a world of sentient oranges and one-eyed monsters.

  • Walking Boosts Creativity

    The next time you feel stuck with writer’s block, try taking a walk. A Stanford study has shown that walking increases creativity over simply sitting, even when walking indoors on a treadmill.

  • Beating Writer’s Block

    For Intelligent Life, Tim de Lisle captured some of Philip Pullman’s wisdom from his most recent interview, including his advice on how to get over writer’s block: If you’re stuck, if you’re really desperate—dialogue: “Hello.” “Oh hello.” “How are you?”…

  • The Rumpus Interview with Josh Weil

    The Rumpus Interview with Josh Weil

    Writer Josh Weil talks about his novel, The Great Glass Sea, magical realism vs. science fiction, Russia’s experiments with mirrored satellites, his early days as an aspiring playwright, and how he uses fear as a fuel to accomplish his work.

  • Between Drafts

    The cycle of writing, editing, and publishing often leads to down time between drafts. Over at Beyond the Margins, Marlene Adelstein talks about not writing during the down time between submitting a finished manuscript and waiting to hear back from agents…