Writers block

 From Rivka Galchen Talks Writer’s Block and Her Pandemic Cat:

LH: How do you tackle writers block?

RG: I find reading to be a remedy for: anxiety, rage, boredom, writer’s block, even allergies. I do best when I’m spending many more hours reading than writing. I sometimes think of writing as just a very intense form of reading, it’s just that you have to generate the words that you’re going to then read. I like to read at night in bed, until that magic moment when I’m deceiving myself into thinking my eyes are still open, that I’m still reading, but really I’m just dreaming that I’m reading. In that way, I think sleep is another good way through writer’s block. Especially little naps.

LH: Which book(s) do you return to again and again?

RG: There was about a decade of my life when I would turn to Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado de Assis, The Third Policeman by Flann O’ Brien, and The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon. I’d open those books to anywhere, read a little bit, and feel crackly and electric. Even a half-sentence in those books gives joy, or a little laugh, or a little something.