Would you believe this casual saying dates back almost 2,000 years ago? Pliny the Younger, also known as Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, was a Roman senator in the mid first century A.D. who is one of the few people from Antiquity who historians can prove existed. Pliny is known for a large number of letters he had written that managed to survive the years (they still exist today). This passage is the root of today's phrase: "There is nothing to write about, you say. Well then, write and let me know just this - that there is nothing to write about." The current version dates to the 19th century.
