What do you do to get over writers block?

Elizabeth Hein I experience writers block more as a sense of fear and uncertainly, than a lack of words. When I hit a rough patch in my writing, it's not because I don't know what to write. I always have several stories floating around in my brain. What stops me cold in my tracks is uncertainty about the direction a novel is heading in. Sometimes my characters take hold of the plot and wrestle it out of my hands. That can be quite disconcerting.

The best way I have found to get over a staled project is to put it aside for a bit and work on something else. While the project is resting, I let the issues I had with the plot steep in my subconscious. Eventually, I get a flash of incite, usually while taking a shower or driving down the highway. From there it is more a question of having the courage to slash chapters and rewrite whole sections of a manuscript. I also rely of my critique partners to help me through rough patches. Sometimes, merely talking out a plot problem or story idea over a cup of coffee is all I need to get back on track.

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