Definition and Examples of Writers Block

Definition and Examples of Writers Block    Writers block is a condition in which a skilled writer with the desire to write finds herself unable to write. The expression writers block was coined and popularized by American psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler in the 1940s.In other ages and cultures, says Alice Flaherty in The Midnight Disease, writers were not thought to be blocked but straightforwardly dried up. One literary critic points out that the concept of writers block is peculiarly American in its optimism that we all have creativity just waiting to be unlocked.See Examples and Observations below. Also see: 12 Quick Tips for Beating Writers BlockWriters on Writing: Overcoming Writers BlockComposing My First College Essay, by Sandy KlemHow to Avoid Writing, by Robert BenchleyHow to Write 2,500 Words Before Breakfast Every DayJohn McPhees Remedy for Writers BlockRobert Pirsig on Overcoming Writers BlockA Trick for Overcoming Writers Block and Getting Into a Writing Frame of MindWriters on Writing: The Myth of Inspiration Examples and Observations You dont know what it is to stay a whole day with your head in your hands trying to squeeze your unfortunate brain so as to find a word.(Gustave Flaubert, 1866)Why is suffering a major criterion for writers block? Because someone who is not writing but not suffering does not have writers block; he or she is merely not writing. Such times may instead be fallow periods for the development of new ideas, periods Keats famously described as delicious diligent indolence.(Alice W. Flaherty, The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writers Block, and the Creative Brain. Houghton Mifflin, 2004)Although it can be triggered by any number of internal or external stimuli, the vital function that writers block performs during the creative process remains constant: inability to write means that the unconscious self is vetoing the program demanded by the conscious ego.(Victoria Nelson, On Writers Block. Houghton Mifflin, 1993)I think writers block is simply the dread that you are going to write som ething horrible.(Roy Blount, Jr.) William Staffords Remedy for Writers BlockI believe that the so-called writing block is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance. . . .Well, I have a formula for this that may just be a gimmicky way of explaining it. Anyway, it goes like this: one should lower his standards until there is no felt threshold to go over in writing. It’s easy to write. You just shouldn’t have standards that inhibit you from writing.(William Stafford, Writing the Australian Crawl. University of Michigan Press, 1978) Eminem on Writers BlockFallin asleep with writers block in the parking lot of McDonalds,But instead of feeling sorry for yourself do something about it.Admit you got a problem, your brain is clouded, you pouted long enough.(Eminem, Talkin 2 Myself. Recovery, 2010) Stephen King on Writers Block- There may be a stretch of weeks or months when it doesnt come at all; this is called writers block. Some writers in the throes of writers block think their muses have died, but I dont think that happens often; I think what happens is that the writers themselves sow the edges of their clearing with poison bait to keep their muses away, often without knowing they are doing it. This may explain the extraordinarily long pause between Joseph Hellers classic novel Catch-22 and the follow-up, years later. That was called Something Happened. I always thought that what happened was Mr. Heller finally cleared away the muse repellent around his particular clearing in the woods.(Stephen King, The Writing Life. The Washington Post, October 1, 2006)- [M]y son, fed up with hearing me complain and whine about my illness, gave me a present for Christmas, Stephen King’s On Writing. . . . The simple theme of this remarkable book is if you really want to write, then shut yourself in a room, close the door, and WRITE. If you don’t want to write, do something else.(Mary Garden, Writers Block. Absolute Write, 2007) The Trick[Y]ou dont want to face the blank page. Youll do anything to avoid writing. Youll go clean your toilet before you write. So I finally figured it out. Ive done the most writing this year because of a trick Ive figured out. . . . The trick is you gotta find something worse than writing. [Laughing] Thats it. Thats the trick.(Robert Rodriguez, quoted by Charles Ramirez Berg in The Mariachi Aesthetic Goes to Hollywood. Robert Rodriguez: Interviews, ed. by Zachary Ingle. University Press of Mississippi, 2012) The Lighter Side of Writers Block[Writing is] brutal, slogging work, comparable to coal mining, but harder. You never hear coal miners complaining about Coal Miners Block, wherein, try as they might, they simply cant bring themselves to mine another piece of coal. Whereas this kind of tragedy befalls novelists all the time, which is why so many of them are forced to quit working altogether and become university professors.(Dave Barry, Ill Mature When Im Dead. Berkley, 2010)

A Definition of Liberal Media Bias

A Definition of Liberal Media Bias A  Gallup poll found that just 40% of Americans trust the media to fairly and accurately report the news. Much of this has to do with the liberal tilt of news coverage and stories. In politics, conservatives often deal with an overwhelming liberal bias within the mainstream media, which includes the news divisions of major broadcast networks and major newspapers. This is typically just referred to as media bias. Media bias does not refer to the political punditry class as political affiliations are usually known and the commentary is intended as opinion-oriented. Media bias does not refer to media figures such as Rachel Maddow, Bill OReilly, and Al Sharpton who are expected to give political viewpoints. What Is Media Bias?   Media bias refers to the allegedly objective journalists in print and media who intentionally - and sometimes unintentionally - report or cover stories in a way favorable to Democrats and liberals and unfavorable to Republicans and conservatives. Journalists such as Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer, and Wolf Blitzer who portray themselves as pure newsmen could have their biases exposed by delivering one-sided news stories. Dan Rathers attempted takedown of George W. Bush comes to mind. Examples of Media Bias Barack Obama received free passes in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential races as the media was primarily interested in highlighting the historic nature of Obamas campaign. While Sarah Palin was heavily criticized by the media as lacking the experience to be Vice-President, the question was never a major issue with the decidedly less-experienced Obama. In 2012, the media turned every statement by Mitt Romney (dogs on vacation!) into stories that lasted weeks, while at the same time refusing to cover the Fast and Furious scandal or the Benghazi attacks with seriousness. And CNNs Candy Crowley infamously interrupted a debate exchange between Romney and Obama by debating Romney herself on Benghazi. (She was wrong, but the ramifications were huge.) While VP Joe Biden could barely take the stage without making a hysterical gaffe during his tenure, his sanity or competence was never questioned in the way that Dan Quayles was for once adding an e at the end of potato during a spelling bee. That the card was given to Quayle by the school with the incorrect spelling and that Quayle had questioned the spelling on the card is the part of the story the media always enjoys ignoring. While Democrats regularly get softball question and answer sessions from serious journalists, conservatives are usually left answering absurd questions based on absurd assumptions. When a deranged gunman shot Congresswoman Gabby Giffords of Arizona, the media had absolutely no problem claiming Sarah Palin was to blame because she once had a map on her website that had used a target on it to imply that it was going to be a competitive congressional race. Unbiased, Fair and Objective   The problem with media bias is that the journalist and media personalities are claiming to be unbiased, fair, and objective but typically end up delivering one-sided viewpoints disguised as fact. Many Americans will not look deeper into every issue presented by the media, instead of taking the stories at face value. Any information that might dispel the media bias myths has to be actively sought. Pronunciation: me-di-a bÄ «Ã‰â„¢s Also Known As: Mainstream Media; Lamestream media (Sarah Palin); Dinosaur Media (Laura Ingraham) Alternate Spellings: none Common Misspellings: none Examples In a free country, people depend on the media for their information about government and other powerful institutions. If the press sounds the alarm about some danger, people have to pay attention. But if they have lost confidence in the press – because of its biases – then there’s a good chance we’ll ignore the warning. And that could be dangerous. - Bernard Goldberg on Media Bias 60 Minutes used to be synonymous with gotcha, and it certainly was when it broke the Abu Ghraib story to hurt Bush in 2004, and when Dan Rather flaunted fake Texas Air National Guard documents to hurt Bush months later. In the 2008 election cycle, â€Å"60 Minutes† asked John McCain why he would let the Wall Street executives sail away on their yachts and leave this [bailout] on the American taxpayer? They hammered Romney about avoiding military service – and his five sons avoiding military service. Kroft has never asked Obama about his failure to serve in the military, and he certainly never asked about whether he had premarital sex with his wife – which Mike Wallace threw at Romney. - Brent Bozell