101 Reasons to Stop Writing

In 1616, Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare and stopped writing, the hard way. Two of the fathers of Western literature, the greatest writers in the history of the Spanish and English languages. Peruvian poet Inca Garcilaso de la Vega also turned in his final draft. That was a really bad day.

(Actually, England still used the Julian Calendar in 1616, so technically the anniversary of Shakespeare’s death is on May 3. “April 23″ was the date of his last blog post, in which he ranted about ThySpace, called Christopher Marlowe an “overrated twat” and claimed to be working on a “more upbeat” ending to Hamlet.)

In 1850, William Wordsworth dipped his quill for the last time. He also stopped writing.

UNESCO says it’s World Book and Copyright Day, the annual event where the United Nations say “Fsck you!” to fanficcers.