I Finally Understand What Stephen King Was Saying About His Desk

I Finally Understand What Stephen King Was Saying About His Desk

I've always had a complicated relationship with writing desks. It seems absurd to say such a thing, because a writing desk is an inanimate object and therefore indifferent, which should make having a relationship with it anything but complicated.But, for writers, or anyone who spends several hours creating at a desk every day, that relationship is important. You have to be able to live together in harmony. Perhaps it's this way with a musician and their instrument. Maybe even more so for them, as they tend to travel with the inanimate object they're having a relationship with, and I generally do not lug my desk along when I travel. Sure, I'm bogged down with pens, notebooks, and tablet, but that's another story altogether.Where I get my real writing done, my final drafts, submissions, blogging, publishing, all happens here, at my very small, very cheap, and very reliable little desk. But it wasn't always this way.My first desk was a thing...
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13 Writers on the Screen

13 Writers on the Screen

1. Oscar Wilde Wilde, 1997 - Stephen Fry is just freaking brilliant in this movie that depicts Oscar Wilde's career, wit & torment as he struggled with a family, his homosexuality (represented by the jazzy pink suit) & the absurd trial that resulted in his being sentenced to hard labor - a sentence that eventually caused his death.2. Sylvia Plath Sylvia, 2003 - While I can't stand Gwyneth Paltrow (who can?) I really enjoyed this film about Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes.  Of course, there's some other business about Bell Jars & sticking heads in ovens, as one might expect.3. Truman Capote Capote, 2005 - I went to see this movie at the theater & have a clear recollection of being bored more than anything.  This film is really more about the conception of Capote's novel, "In Cold Blood" & is less about the writer himself.  While Philip Seymour Hoffman isn't really capable of delivering anything close to a shitty performance, his acting...
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I’m Calling Bullshit on Your “Writer’s Block”

I’m Calling Bullshit on Your “Writer’s Block”

"Writer's block? I've heard of this. This is when a writer cannot write, yes?  Then that person isn't a writer anymore.  I'm sorry, but the job is getting up in the fucking morning and writing for a living."   — Warren Ellis "There's no such thing as writer's block.  That was invented by people in California who couldn't write."  — Terry Pratchett * Here's the thing about writer's block: it's bullshit.  If someone says to me, "I have writer's block," then what I hear is: "I'm not writing".So many people believe that writer's block is real. Some even believe that it's a disease.  A disease. Sorry, you don't have a disease. Cancer is a disease. Scurvy is a disease. Your blank page is not a symptom of a medical condition. You do not have a disease. You have laziness. You have fear or insecurity. Perhaps you're out of ideas. Or, maybe you just can't write. Maybe, deep down, you don't really want to...
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