Five Ways to Conquer Writer's Block

How many of us are moving right along in our WIP, then suddenly the inspiration stops coming?  You're frustrated and ready to throw your manuscript across the room or out the window, but yet that's impossible, because... well, because no matter how much you hate it at the moment, it's still precious to you and you can't get rid of this story in front of you no matter how much you're convinced it would be good for your mental wellbeing.

So, you've got an unfinished document in front of you that won't leave you alone, yet you can't do anything with.  How to cure this?  Well, everyone has their own way of working through the infamous writer's block, and there's really no 'wrong' way to do it!  I'm here with 5 ideas that I hope will be some help to you.

1. Skip Ahead
I'm pretty sure a lot of people already use this technique, but it's certainly worth mentioning!  Pausing your work in the current scene and skipping ahead to a part that you're super excited to write is a great way to get motivated.  Then, when you're ready to get back to the old scene, it'll be there waiting for you to connect the gap between the two scenes!  Just be careful not to write too many scenes without knowing exactly where to put them.  I've done this, and wouldn't recommend—for me, it made my doc such a mess that it scared me off before I even started writing again.

2. Music
If you simply cannot concentrate on what is going on in your WIP, crank some music (preferably wordless) that will get your creative juices flowing.  Movie soundtracks have some excellent songs for this purpose.  Or, if you're feeling especially derailed from the tracks of writing and need an extra pick-me-up, make a soundtrack for your book, like I mentioned in our post about loving your story again.

3. Pinterest

Once again, this is probably a popular solution, and one that I talked about again during a previous post, but it's well worth repeating!  Whether it's simply to find that one picture that strikes you with creativity, or a story prompt, or creating an entire new storyboard—Pinterest is certainly a source of inspiration!  It's also a place for writers to procrastinate, but hey, anything that works!  If procrastination is the way to get you past writer's block, go for it!  No two writers are exactly alike.

4. Sprint

Now, I don't mean sprint literally, but in the sense which you writers all understand it: write as many words as you can in a set time frame.  Even if the words on the paper all end up deleted later.  Say, you decide to sprint for 10 minutes.  If you get 200 words in those 10 minutes, set your goal for 250 the next sprint.  You'll eventually get to a point where it doesn't even take any effort to continue your story.  The point? Just write.

5. Sprint

No, this is not a misprint.  This time I actually do mean literally.  Do some sort of physical exercise, whether you run for a mile or two or a marathon, or just do a few pushups.  Clean the house.  Wash dishes.  Bake cookies.  Do something, anything to get away from that screen (double points if you write on a healthy piece of physical paper with a pen or pencil and don't need a screen break at all.  That's not me, ha) and get your mind cleared.  Go take a nap if you have to.  What I'm saying is, put it down for an hour or two, or even a day or a week.  Just don't leave it for too long, or you might not want to go back!

Have you tried any of these methods?  Are any of these new to you?  Do you have any of your own ways to conquer writer's block that I haven't mentioned?

Also, don't forget that this coming Wednesday is the deadline for the NaNo challenge, so get your entries in quickly!