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In 1974, Dennis Upper submitted a mostly blank manuscript titled “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block'” to the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, which published it with a footnote and reviewer’s comments. Dr. Seuss, Toni Morrison, and Sylvia Plath all had their own ways of dealing with writer’s block.
Few people would pick up an academic research journal if they’re looking for light reading, but that doesn’t mean the writers don’t have a sense of humor.
Case in point: In 1974, Dennis Upper submitted an almost blank manuscript to the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis with the title “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block.’” Upper, a Veterans Administration staffer Hospital in Brockton, Massachusetts, might have had his tongue firmly in his cheek, but the paper proved it got the joke, running the mostly blank page in its fall 1974 issue.
While the body of the article is blank—the self-treatment for writer’s block didn’t work—the bottom of the page includes a footnote to the title and a “Reviewer’s Comments” section. The former explains that “Parts of this paper were not presented” at a psychological association meeting, while in the latter, the reviewer explains that “he studied this manuscript very closely with lemon juice and X-rays and (I) did not detect a single flaw in both design and writing style. I suggest publishing it without review.” For the record, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis is a respected and peer-reviewed academic publication that has been around since 1968.
Staring at the blank page:
Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) battled writer’s block by going into a closet full of hats and wearing them until he felt he could write again.
Toni Morrison said that while it took her three years to start writing Beloved, she wouldn’t call it writer’s block, but a type of preparation that prepared her to write.
Sylvia Plath suffered years of writer’s block until a collection of her poems was published; she was therefore able to write The Bell Jar in just over two months.
