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Vinson Lin
Nora Kassner
Writing 1
24 November 2020

Correspondence on Writer’s Block

Dear Ms. Kassner,

As you may know, writing for me has never truly piqued my interest. I often find myself stuck in
my writing, bogged down by essay after essay trying to analyze novels or answering prompts
that I barely understand. Through my years of primary and secondary education I have always
wondered how I can overcome my writer’s block. Recently, I researched this topic and stumbled
across an academic conversation on this issue containing different solutions and strategies on
defeating writer’s block.

The first scholar to dabble in this topic of “writer’s block” is Edmund Bergler who initially
coined the term. When his first papers were published in the 1940’s and 50’s some scholars
never agreed with the idea of writer’s block and only talentless writers dealt with such
difficulties. Bergler refutes these claims by dispelling fallacies which argue against the existence
of writer’s block. He says that these arguments are “neither convincing nor intelligent” (Bergler,
53) because each critic lacks the understanding of psychoanalysis which the idea of writer’s
block is built upon. At this point, writer’s block was defined by Bergler as a neurotic disease
which affected some writer’s productivity. He also dispells fallacies such as the “Landlord”
theory which states that motivation for writing is because writers need to make money. Bergler
disproves this theory by saying real writers will continue to write even if they are wealthy.
Essentially, Bergler sets the stage for existence and problem of writer’s block.

Next, the conversation builds with new, personal perspectives on writer’s block from english
teachers. In Jill Aeshbacher’s 1973 essay ​It’s Not Elves Exactly ​she talks about her personal
struggles with finding the motivation to write despite, at a young age, having a talent for it.
Aeschbacher reasons that her perfectionist standards limited her ability to write freely. Once she
finally saw writing as a fun activity rather than work, was she able to write confidently and
efficiently. Priscilla Sears is another english teacher who writes in her 1979 article about how to
overcome writer’s block. She says she taught students to overcome their writer’s block by
creating outlines and to write the first draft nonstop “without worrying about ‘pettyfogging’
details” (Sears). Aeshbacher and Sears are both english teachers and although their articles aren’t
associated with any academic journals, I think their input brought to the table new ideas for the
causes of writer’s block and some solutions for it.

Mike Rose, a professor at UCLA, is who I believe to be an influential member of this

conversation. His 1980 publication ​Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language
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pushed forward research on writer’s block because he produced clinical observations of student
writers and thorough interpretations of his data. In a sense he can be seen as a transitional figure
in this conversation because of his use of scientific methodology rather than personal
experiences with writer’s block which had. Although not referenced explicitly, his ideas closely
resemble that of Aeshbacher in that writer’s block is caused by perfectionism or “writing rules”
which impede “the composing process” (390, Rose). Mike Rose asserts that because some
writers can’t move past a sentence without it sounding perfect, they end up stuck in writer’s
block. Furthermore, writers feel like they must follow certain writing rules which they learned in
the past. Sometimes these rules limit the flexibility of one’s argument and in turn disrupting a
writer’s thought process.

Rose’s work in this conversation inspired many scholars and allowed them to branch out on this
discussion. For example, Cherryl Armstrong’s 1983 article cites Rose’s investigation of the
writing block and she comes up with solutions based on Rose’s work. Armstrong’s main idea is
that the best way to start writing is without rereading and without any preconceptions, essentially
she is echoing what Sears mentioned initially which is to freewrite the first draft. One such
scholar who was able to occupy a unique niche in this conversation is Christina Crosby in her
2003 ​Writer’s Block, Merit, and the Market​ where she relates writer’s block to capital and work
ethic. At one point in her article she references Mike Rose and another psychology professor’s
work, saying that the quote “just do it” as a marketing slogan is even applicable to writing. I
believe what Crosby is trying to say is that writer’s block is a universal idea and it can be seen in
other subjects, because writer's block at its core is just a mindset. Both Crosby and Armstrong
agree that writing is most effectively improved through short, daily writing sessions.

In short, every scholar mentioned believes that writer’s block doesn’t correlate with a writer’s
talent but rather their psychological ideas that their writing isn’t held up to certain expectations.
Writer’s block has as much to do with psychology as it is with writing. Although there are
different writing techniques to reduce the block, inherently the problem stems from a
psychological mindset which writers must push past in order to write freely.

Most of what was said by these scholars I can agree with through my own experiences. In
highschool I was taught TBEAR writing, an acronym for topic sentence, background, evidence,
analysis, and return to thesis where every body paragraph must have two pieces of evidence
followed by an analysis. Although this seems like an efficiently structured essay, it goes against
Mike Rose’s idea of reducing rigid rules while writing. By focusing so heavily on getting two
pieces of evidence per paragraph, I was unable to write smoothly which made it especially
difficult to write in timed essays in class. In the future I want to shift my perspective of writing
from a chore to an “activity” as Aechbacher says, where I can express my own views and
arguments. Some of the strategies mentioned by Armstrong and Sears were used in writing this
letter such as an organized outline. Nonetheless, there is still one point where I disagree with the
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other scholars which is to write in short sessions, because for me personally it is harder to start
writing than it is to stop.

Sincerely,
Vinson Lin

Bibliography
1. Bergler, Edmund. “​Does "Writer's Block" Exist?​”​ ​American Imago​, vol. 7, no. 1, 1950,
pp. 43-54.

2. Aeschbacher, Jill. “It's Not Elves Exactly.” ​College Composition and Communication​,
vol. 24, no. 3, 1973, pp. 240–246.

3. Sears, Priscilla. “Letter Writing: A Technique for Treating Writer’s Block.” ​Institute of
Education Sciences​, 1979.

4. Rose, Mike. “Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist
Analysis of Writer's Block.” ​College Composition and Communication​, vol. 31, no. 4,
1980, pp. 389–401.

5. Armstrong, Cherryl. “There's No Such Thing As Writer's Block; (or If There Is, Some
Suggestions for Dissolving It).” ​The Quarterly of the National Writing Project, ​1983, pp.
14–15.

6. Crosby, Christina. “Writer's Block, Merit, and the Market: Working in the University of
Excellence.” ​National Council of Teachers of English​, vol. 65, no. 6, 2003, p. 626.