Quotes and Cookies: Writer's Block

On writer's block: "I don't believe in it. Plumbers don't get plumbers block and doctors don't get doctor's block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expect sympathy for it?"

~ Philip Pullman

I totally, completely agree. Does that mean it's never hard to write? That you never stare at the blank screen, and can't seem to figure out what the heck to write? Pfft. Of course not. But to me, not knowing what to write doesn't mean you have some kind of magical block. It means that you need to spend some more time thinking about your story. Thinking about your characters and their motivations. What is going to get in the way of what they want. Where the plot is going. What, exactly, is going to happen in that next scene.

So to me, it's not so much a block, as it is a sign that I'm prepared to write.

Agree? Disagree?

If you disagree, have a cookie! If you agree, have two. ;)

Photo Credit Link: Star Wars Blog

Hahaha! Just kidding. Disagree with me all you want, and you can still have two. :)

Have a fabulous weekend! And May the 4th be with you! [snicker, snicker]

The Way We Are: Countering Writer's Block

When I was a kid and I first heard about writer's block, I always assumed it was some mystical thing that came over writers that stopped them from writing. Something like how vertigo can stop someone from piloting a plane. Something that happened to them that they really couldn't control.

Maybe I just figured that authors had a magical something that allowed stories to flow from their brain on command, and that writer's block stopped the flow. (Oh my gosh. Wouldn't that be so cool?)(No, not the writer's block. That's almost never cool. The having stories flow freely from our brains.) Since then, of course, I learned that writer's block is basically not having thought through your story enough. Not having figured out the next part or the next scene. That it isn't just a mystical thing. (I picture it as a reinforced steel wall in my mind, behind which all answers to my plot reside. I have to beat and beat and beat at it to punch a hole big enough to grab out a piece of the plot, then I have to beat and beat and beat to get the next part.)

Getting those stories to flow takes so much work! But beyond that, it takes your mind being in a creative place-- mentally and / or physically. When you are putting in the time and the work and the effort to try to figure out the next scene or that next plot turn, or how to make that climax more spectacular, or one of the million little things you have to figure out along the way, there are things that can definitely trigger your creativity more. Things you see or hear or experience or places you can be that help you unblock writer's block.

So what's your go-to? What creative triggers

can you count on to help you get past writer's block?

For me, it's walking. Folding clothes. Looking at pictures of fascinating scenery. Watching movie trailers. Listening to my daughter's wildly fantastical stories. That last few moments when I'm lying in bed before I fall asleep.

Now it's your turn! Share what works for you-- it just might work for someone else, too.