FAQ: How to deal with writer's block?

I don't have time to get writer's block (she said arrogantly). But seriously: I write a book a year and I have a day job and like to eat home cooked meals and the dog doesn't walk herself.  Here are my strategies for warding off and mitigating the dreaded writer's block.

My favorite author, Tom Robbins, once said this: make sure the muse knows where to find you. Show up at the same place, same time, every day. I think of it like exercise: the more regularly you do it, the easier it is to keep it up. So don't go a day without at least tweaking a comma in your manuscript.

Scheme and plot…in advance. I write synopses because my editor makes me (she said with love!). But I spreadsheet my novels because it rocks my world. Yup, spreadsheets. Scene by scene, breaking down motivation and how everyone's feeling with each chapter. Because when that hard thinking work is done up front, you can just fly with the writing.

If you're writing fiction—you have no excuse. Just make stuff up. If you're writing non-fiction—well, I could advise you but I'd just be making stuff up.

Check your premises. This one comes from another author I am fond of, Ayn Rand. If you're stuck at point E, go back and review A, B, C, D and see where the disconnect is happening. Don't be afraid to fix it.

If all else fails, book a trip to a hot place. Add alcohol (to you, not your computer). I've been employing this strategy on my latest book.

Suck it up, buttercup. Bully through. It's only writing, for goodness sake, and it's good fun!