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Joyce Kinkead, Distinguished Professor of English, Utah State University

The 5,000-year history of writer's block

The romantic image of the writer doesn't do justice to the tedious reality of churning out words, one after another. fcscafeine/iStock via Getty Images

Ann Patchett, who has written eight novels and five books of nonfiction, says that when faced with writer’s block, sometimes it seems that the muse has “gone out back for a smoke.”

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an award-winning novelist or a high schooler tasked with writing an essay for English class: The fear and frustration of writing doesn’t discriminate.

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