{"id":87067,"date":"2015-06-26T15:21:49","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T19:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=87067"},"modified":"2015-06-26T17:39:27","modified_gmt":"2015-06-26T21:39:27","slug":"factotum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/","title":{"rendered":"Factotum"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Illustration: Graziano Origa<\/p><\/div>\n

I hate the term \u201cwriter\u2019s block.\u201d First cited in the OED in 1950\u2014plain old block<\/em> was in use as early as \u201831\u2014it feels like a dismissive term for a whole host of terrifying phenomena. Besides, if you write, the concept is scary: to acknowledge its existence is to acknowledge that it could happen to you.<\/p>\n

Nineteen fifty may seem recent, but it\u2019s not as if creative people didn\u2019t find themselves in dry spells before that. Perhaps they just knew it as an inextricable part of the process\u2014the brain lying fallow\u2014not a lack so much as another component. <\/p>\n

Certainly I can\u2019t admit to it. And I\u2019ve never wanted to presume that I could: writer\u2019s block has always seemed to me the province of those burdened by genius. It\u2019s one thing for Nietzsche or Joseph Mitchell to fall into tortuous unproductivity; they have created work for the ages. When they experience the abyss they\u2019re failing not merely themselves (they must think) but the larger world to whom they owe artistic responsibility.<\/p>\n

Those of us who do workmanlike, quotidian writing might well fall prey to burnout\u2014the brain can only work so much, even if the product is flying into Internet ether. Indeed, hack work can exhaust you profoundly; I\u2019ve never felt more drained than when I was writing ten posts a day for an online job. But it\u2019s like the exhaustion of a hangover, rather than that of wholesome physical exercise. And just as with a hangover, rest isn\u2019t always a luxury one can afford.<\/p>\n

This is not, for instance, a post I much admire. But as Charles Bukowski once said, \u201cwriting about a writer\u2019s block is better than not writing at all.\u201d And he\u2019s a man who knew from hangovers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hate the term \u201cwriter\u2019s block.\u201d First cited in the OED in 1950\u2014plain old block was in use as early as \u201831\u2014it feels like a dismissive term for a whole host of terrifying phenomena. Besides, if you write, the concept is scary: to acknowledge its existence is to acknowledge that it could happen to you. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[18574,9288,8397,1297],"class_list":["post-87067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-charles-bukowksi","tag-friedrich-nietzsche","tag-joseph-mitchell","tag-writers-block"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Difference Between Burnout and Writer\u2019s Block<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"June 26, 2015 \u2013 I hate the term \u201cwriter\u2019s block.\u201d First cited in the OED in 1950\u2014plain old block was in use as early as \u201831\u2014it feels like a dismissive term for a whole\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Factotum by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 26, 2015 \u2013 I hate the term \u201cwriter\u2019s block.\u201d First cited in the OED in 1950\u2014plain old block was in use as early as \u201831\u2014it feels like a dismissive term for a whole\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-26T19:21:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-26T21:39:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"566\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"442\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\"},\"headline\":\"Factotum\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-26T19:21:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-26T21:39:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/\"},\"wordCount\":329,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Charles Bukowksi\",\"Friedrich Nietzsche\",\"Joseph Mitchell\",\"writer's block\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Our Daily Correspondent\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/\",\"name\":\"The Difference Between Burnout and Writer\u2019s Block\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-26T19:21:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-26T21:39:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"June 26, 2015 \u2013 I hate the term \u201cwriter\u2019s block.\u201d First cited in the OED in 1950\u2014plain old block was in use as early as \u201831\u2014it feels like a dismissive term for a whole\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Factotum\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\",\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sadie Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Difference Between Burnout and Writer\u2019s Block","description":"June 26, 2015 \u2013 I hate the term \u201cwriter\u2019s block.\u201d First cited in the OED in 1950\u2014plain old block was in use as early as \u201831\u2014it feels like a dismissive term for a whole","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Factotum by Sadie Stein","og_description":"June 26, 2015 \u2013 I hate the term \u201cwriter\u2019s block.\u201d First cited in the OED in 1950\u2014plain old block was in use as early as \u201831\u2014it feels like a dismissive term for a whole","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2015-06-26T19:21:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-26T21:39:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":566,"height":442,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sadie Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sadie Stein","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/"},"author":{"name":"Sadie Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9"},"headline":"Factotum","datePublished":"2015-06-26T19:21:49+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-26T21:39:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/"},"wordCount":329,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg","keywords":["Charles Bukowksi","Friedrich Nietzsche","Joseph Mitchell","writer's block"],"articleSection":["Our Daily Correspondent"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/","name":"The Difference Between Burnout and Writer\u2019s Block","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg","datePublished":"2015-06-26T19:21:49+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-26T21:39:27+00:00","description":"June 26, 2015 \u2013 I hate the term \u201cwriter\u2019s block.\u201d First cited in the OED in 1950\u2014plain old block was in use as early as \u201831\u2014it feels like a dismissive term for a whole","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/bukowski-by-origa.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/26\/factotum\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Factotum"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9","name":"Sadie Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sadie Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87067"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87081,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87067\/revisions\/87081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}