Writer's Block? Fact or Myth?

Applewritingcopy.com

Morning Peepsickles!

Most of us writers have been there...a touch or two of suffering from the dreaded 'writer's block'. But does it really exist or is it a figment of our often over-worked and over-tired mind and imagination. I can't honestly say I've suffered bad enough where I cannot put pen to paper, but sometimes I do feel I'm getting bogged down with one part of the manuscript or feeling a little stale. There are some favourite things I do to keep my mind in top gear and out of interest I asked a handful of my fellow author friends what their solutions were...here's mine...
1. Apart from going for a long exhilarating walk, I point walls! Yes, I've become quite an expert and my walls are famous in our village!  I've found that by allowing my mind to relax when doing something manual, by the time I've finished I'm ready to sit down and get writing again.

2. I ensure I always have a writing pad and pencil within reach - night or day - you never know when inspiration will grab you!
3. Do a little house work! - My least favourite solution...
4. Gardening, lovely in spring and summer!
5. And that old favourite of simply staying in the chair and doodling with something completely different until you get going at full revs again. Let's hear what the others say...

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Margaret Lynette Sharp:
Hi Faith!
My personal way of coping with writer's block is to take the pressure off. Swim!
Swim, and let the oxygen re-energise those stressed out brain cells. Let the ideas flow.
Let your mind do what it wants to do. If nothing happens, don't worry. Repeat the process again, later. Above all, know you can do it!

'Encore' ~
Is a new release and the sixth collection of Australian Short Stories written by Sydney author Margaret Lynette Sharp, and edited by her husband Ronald William Sharp, the creator of the Grand Organ in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House.
In common with her previous works, 'Encore' contains a selection of mainly romantic tales, overwhelmingly positive in theme.

Crime, historical, fantasy author et al, Tim Ellis says it straight and doesn't beat about the bush!...

Writer's Block - no such thing. It's like saying your brain has stopped working - no imagination, no ideas, no ability to string words together! My advice is to stop making excuses and get writing.

The House of Mourning~(New Release)
Parish & Richards must find a serial killer who is carving broken hearts on women. Stick & Xena are given the case of a severed hand, which was found by a bag lady in a waste bin outside the local fish & chip shop, but Xena has her own problems. Jerry Kowalski gets involved with a woman who thinks someone is trying to kill her, so she asks for Cookie's help, but the trouble with Cookie is that she doesn't know when to stop. Oscar Gamboa, a lieutenant in the Colombian Los Cambios drug cartel, has been tasked by drug lord Esteben Garcia to get his money back, and kill whoever has it. Oscar decides to take Rosibel Cabelleros with him against her will. Parish & Richards finally get the chance to visit the Excess Bagage depot in Wembley and find out what is in the briefcase

Faith, I just have this great quote by Sidney Sheldon: "A blank piece of paper is God's way of telling us how hard it is to be God." Seb Kirby

Take No More ~ When James Blake discovers his wife has been murdered in their London home, he is determined to find her killer. Julia, a conservator - a protector and preserver of fine art - has left him with just two clues: the words help me on her mobile phone and a strange attachment of Michelangelo's Leda and the Swan. 
As the prime suspect of his wife's murder, James flees England and sets out on a trail of deception and danger across the sweeping landscapes of Venice and Florence into a dark underworld of corruption, a trail that will lead him to the killer - and the shocking truth behind the mystery.

Please note! New Release! Regret No More, the second in the James Blake thriller series, is out now and is available at the special launch price of $2.99 / £1.99. 

Writer, Betty Carlton says:
Have a character ask a question. Why does that work - because someone in the room must respond.
Here's the best part, You Hate what you wrote. No problem you hate it because you thought of a better way for the scene to go. If you scrap it, so what. You're writing and the ideas are back. Bonus, if like it now you have a whole new scene.

Wolfkeeper's Woman ~
A country where the strong survive. Some people are strong of body. Other people are strong in spirit.
The warrior Wolfkeeper is such a man. A man not only physically strong but strong willed with a wisdom beyond his years. A wisdom that serves his people well. Until the day he begins to question how he could have tender feelings for someone he considers an enemy.

Childhunt ~(New release)
My writer's block comments are as above.

Two weeks before Christmas. The villagers of Agios Mamas, in Cyprus, are preparing for the season’s festivities. Without warning terror strikes the heart of the village.
Two small children disappear...without trace... the frantic search is on.
Who has been stalking the family for the last six years and knows their every move?
Why has this family been targeted? What is the kidnappers’ ultimate goal? Will local author and amateur sleuth, Diana Rivers and CID Police Chief Inspector, Adam Lovell find the children in time?
Join Diana and her friends as they try to unravel the horrific nightmare which has hit the sleepy little village.

Y K Greene says:
When I hit a block after the wailing, gnashing of teeth and general pleading for the words to come out, I take time from the project and write something else: a short story in the same world as the book, a short story in it's own 'verse, a blathering blog post, half a dozen forum posts, a review, a letter. I keep writing these other things until my main project gets jealous enough to drag me back to it.

Ash of Ambitions ~
The world is a place full of secrets...Ash is a keeper of secrets, a Cleaner, and she's very good at her job. So good, she's about to be pulled deeper into a world of mystery and darkness than she ever wanted to go and just her luck, it looks like her baby sister is going to be coming along for the ride. Sometimes the secrets that are kept from you - are the only things keeping you safe.

Author Tracey Alley puts it differently;
"I tend to think of it as more a case of doubt than an actual block. It's not that you have nothing to say it's just the tiny voice in the back of your mind that questions whether what you have to say will be of any interest to anyone."

Erich's Plea ~
The Kingdoms of Kaynos have been at peace for nearly a thousand years. Now the ambitions of a dark sorceress armed with a new, deadly type of magic called witchcraft threaten to tear the Kingdoms to pieces. Locked deep in the bowels of Zeaburg's infamous, horror-filled subterranean prison the young druid Slade is haunted by a strange, recurring dream. A dream in which his beloved father, High King Erich of Vestland, pleads for Slade's help.

Convinced of the dreams truth Slade must somehow attempt the impossible and escape the inescapable Zeaburg prison in order to find and save his father. Gathering an unlikely assortment of allies along the way Slade must not only find a way out of Zeaburg prison but must also find a way to prevent what threatens to be the bloodiest, most brutal war in the history of all the Kingdoms of Kaynos.Will an unimaginable alliance, an unlikely friendship and a forbidden love be enough to save the Kingdoms of Kaynos?

Ed's note:
Thanks everyone for contributing, it seems we all have our favourite means of keeping those words coming.
And thank you readers for dropping by - we write for you after all!
Faithx