Overcoming Writer’s Block:Bono, R.E.M. & The Doorway Effect

Some of the best advice for overcoming writer’s block comes from U2’s Bono by way of R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe. At least, I think that’s the case … though try as I might, I can’t locate any record of the interview.

Nor do I recall anything else said in the interview or even if I came across it in a video, audio, or magazine. But I do recall that at one point the conversation turned to songwriting, and it was then that Stipe related Bono’s remedy: “Leave the room,” Stipe said, quoting Bono. “Then wa...