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Salon

Lifestyle

Joyce Kinkead

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

Ann Patchett Dorothy Parker New Yorker

Surreal image of a white cloud covering a woman's face (Getty Images/fcscafeine)

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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