CHIPPING AWAY AT WRITER'S BLOCK

Some of you may have noticed that I have not been contributing as frequently as Nancy and Roger have on this blog.
Granted, I have been busy as Editor of The Free Choice e-zine (http://www.thefreechoice.info/) as well as being the Associate Editor At Large for a fledgling comic book company that unfortunately I cannot "officially" discuss...
Yet.
I can tell you that I am overseeing five different series in some capacity, most of the time as full editor of that title, and that our productions will start hitting the marketplace between Thanksgiving 2009 and Spring 2010.

But in what I laughingly call my "spare" time (as the name suggestion I gave Nancy for this blog implies) I do try to write as well, among other things.
Yet when I put my mind to it, I just cannot seem to come up with anything to post here.
Therefore, I thought I would devote a bit of time and space to discuss what to do about writer's block.

Now regardless of what medium/genre you are working with words in, there is bound to come a time every once in a while that you hit a (hopefully momentary) snag wondering: "What next?"

The first thing you should do is get up and take a short break. Just walk away from the project long enough to stretch your legs, maybe use the restroom and get a drink.
Whatever you need to do to clear your head.
Then come back to whatever you were working on and see if you can pick up where you left off.

If this does not work, then take a slightly longer break. Work on something else, even if it is not another writing project.
BUT ALWAYS SAVE YOUR WORK IN PROGRESS.
Even if you do not immediately come back to it does not mean you want to lose whatever you have already created.
It is always possible that refocusing your thoughts in another direction will free up the creative process when you turn your attention back to wherever you stopped last in the previous project.
If not, we move on to the next suggestion: involve a friend.

Now I have heard writing called a solitary position/profession, but it doesn't have to be.
Every writer has at least one true friend who is willing to help out when asked, whether it be as a sounding board, a personal critic, kibitzer, or whatever you might need.
Don't be bashful about admitting you've hit a stumbling block and want to hear what they might think.
A fresh voice/opinion can always come up with a perspective/thought you did not.
Now there is no guarantee that your friend will come up with the "perfect" solution. But their suggestion might lead you to the "right" one.
Do note the quotation marks around those words, for every creative writing problem is different and the solution to one situation is not always the "ideal" one for the next.

Now if by some cruel twist of fate none of the above ideas have yielded positive results yet, DON'T GIVE UP!
You can always try to start fresh again tomorrow, but never give up on your writing!