Frank Deford, the late Sports Illustrated writer, once did an interview with John Meroney for the Atlantic. Here’s Deford’s advice on dealing with writer’s block—he’s talking about Mark Kram, who Deford says did “the finest piece of sportswriting ever to appear in Sports Illustrated”:
“…he couldn’t be happy. He worked himself to death, and at a certain point, he started fighting writing—it became his enemy. Once that happened, it was all over. I used to give him advice. I’d say, ‘You know, Mark, you’re like one of those pitchers who can throw a hundred miles an hour, but you have to aim every pitch. Don’t always aim. Sometimes just throw the sonuvabitch.’”
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