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Writer's block

24 September 2018

'I am never completely cold. I don't have writer's block, really. I do have times when I can't get the lead and that is the only part of the story that I have serious trouble with. I don't write a word of the article until I have the lead. It just sets the whole tone-the whole point of view. I know exactly where I am going as soon as I have the lead. That can take me three or four days and sometimes a week. But as for being cold-as a newspaper reporter you learn that no one tolerates you if you are cold; it's one thing you are not allowed to be. It's not professional. You have to turn the story in. There is no room for the artist.

And so trouble with the lead is as close as I get to being cold, and yes, I do go away from it for a while and go buy a pair of shoes or have dinner. And I know that maybe if I can talk to someone at dinner I'll find the thing I am looking for...'

Nora Ephron, journalist, film director and author of screenplays such as When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle in an interview with Michael S. Lasky