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2017-08-01 - 1:18 p.m.

Writer's block, I think, is essentially not knowing what to do next. Sometimes it's a paralysis by choice. You've got so many options and none rises above the rest as the better way to go. But other times, it's paralysis by absence. Nothing is coming to you. In this latter case, I find that, almost always, that's a sign that you should sit down and read something. Maybe several things.

All by way of saying that Colm Toibin's novel Brooklyn is lovely. He's a master at this:

- A passage that depicts actions over a period of time. For example: "That summer, she..." And then:
- He moves into a specific moment, when you can feel the train slowing down as it comes into a station. Your ears perk and you know: something's important here.

I think it's a great lesson to keep in mind for when you're stuck in paralysis by absence (and maybe the other kind of paralysis, too). If you don't know what to do next, go into a summary. Describe a series of days in a paragraph. Give an idea for what those days smell like, and then, hopefully (maybe), you'll find something to slow down the train for.

(I'm hoping this works for me, this above, right now.)

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