Goodreads asked A.D. Crystal:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

A.D. Crystal Oooh, I love this question. You know, one of the things I adore most about writing, is exactly the experience of coping with the 'block'.

I had such great time watching myself get 'de-blocked' the first time, in a somewhat unconscious way and then practicing it, shyly and with mistakes the first times, then more and more professionally and with certainty.

So fantastic was this process that I have also made use of it in all the other areas of my life.

Here it is.

Find myself in a dead-end. Nothing comes up. There are no ideas of how to continue.

Step 1. Sit down and write about your problem.
Just type 'I am at a dead-end right now. I don't know what to do next...' and go on writing to yourself like that. Many times after I just kept writing about my complaints completely unrelated to my book, i would go 'I mean, here is this girl who is desperate because no matter how great things she wants to accomplish there is no way she can. so, what could she do? maybe, she had a close friend she talked to ' and blah, blah, blah.

Sitting down to writing, anything, made the solution come forth somehow.
If step 1 didn't work, I went for Step 2.

Step 2. Write another part of the book. introduce another character, or just write anything you are interested on today.
You know, our mood, our memory, our self-confidence, our trust to the good in life and the world, our hopes, our 'energy tank' is very different in different days. There were days when I was almost too afraid to sit down to writing. While there were days I couldn't make myself sleep at all, because of my excitement to write.
If today you just can't bring yourself to see the Magic of the Day, don't worry, sit down and write just that, write about your own feelings and describe the world as you see it today. I have 'sewed' in my book several such 'thoughts of failure' of my personal truth, which came out to be real 'pearls' I would not be able to produce in my happy and confident days.

It's writing about today's black clouds of your life, which will make a perfect contrast to the bright colors of the sunny days in your book.
If Step 2 didn't work, I went for Step 3.

Step 3. If none of the previous worked and I was still at a loss, I went Running.
I run daily about 5-6 km. Running has proved vital for my writing. When the body moves so intensively, everything changes in you. You go out of the house depressed and you come in in full vigor and powerful. I run for an hour. So, during this time I set my mind to the events of the book. To me, it wasn't the book I was writing. It was a real place with real people and real events. So, watching things happening in my mind, the solution came naturally. Funny thing is, sometimes more than one solution came. So, I was in the "difficult" position of having to choose one.

This was the process of "de-blocking" myself, this book gifted me with.
One thing is certain. Hold on. Don't quit. The solution will show itself sooner or later. If sooner - you will be happy. I later, you will be wiser.
Happy writing!

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