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Comment by gbog | Hacker News Reader

> If you miss one day you can miss two, if you miss two it's all over.

This is oh-so wrong. Haven't you heard of people working inconsistently? Haven't you heard of activities that just won't come to your hand?

If you are a real poet or writer, you might very well be completely dry and it will be quite impossible for you to write a single word on one page for months, even years! And then maybe the source of inspiration will get some water again, usually because of the winds, and you will throw your master opus in a month, and die happy.

So, ok, go on with your writing-as-other-lift-weight but please keep in mind that some other people might have another idea of what writing is.

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A real poet or writer may not use everything (s)he writes for months but they still write (bad first drafts or just work that they'll never use). Also, for a real poet or writer, that is their job. So they HAVE to write, even if they miss a day or two. For someone who writes for hobby and wants to get good at it, it helps to have a plan like this in place. Hitler would have been an artist if he had the self-discipline to create something - anything- everyday.

If writing/exercising/insert-any-habit-here works for you by doing inconsistently, good for you. It works for the OP when he does it consistently. To each his own.

Is it impossible that writing, even if not towards the current goal you are working towards, has some benefit? I mean, even for real writers and poets, not just the rest of the unwashed masses?

"You're there now doing the thing on paper. You're not killing the goose, you're just producing an egg. So I don't worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It's a matter of just sitting down and working. I have never had the problem of a writing block. I've heard about it. I've felt reluctant to write on some days, for whole weeks, or sometimes even longer. I'd much rather go fishing. for example. or go sharpen pencils, or go swimming, or what not. But, later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, 'Well, now it's writing time and now I'll write.' There's no difference on paper between the two."

--Frank Herbert (author of Dune)

Well okay, Frank Herbert did not have the writing block. Against how many writers who have?

From the passage, it seems that Frank Herbert did have writer's block and chose to write anyway.

???

"I have never had the problem of a writing block."

He means that what other people call "writing block" is just a label that bubbles up from within to describe not feeling it. Not feeling like writing. He prefers to label it, "I'd much rather go fishing." And with that belief, he writes anyway. Even expecting it to be rubbish. And then is surprised to look back and see it's comparable to those days on which he didn't have "writing block".

Well I can fairly believe other writers which have a nearly physical block and can't write a single word without trashing it immediately to the bin.

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