Kelli Ireland
There's no one answer I can give that's a guaranteed "fix" when it comes to writer's block. I *do* have a little bag of tricks I use, and I'm happy to share those. First, get up, get out and change your typical writing environment. I go to a little cafe not far from my house. It's often enough to convince my preternaturally fickle muse that it's time to play.
Second, try music. Take time to set up a playlist for your manuscript or a particular scene.
Third, shut everything down, find a dark place and lie there, thinking about which senses the scene will invoke. Find a way to use all five of them. Senses are all about stimulation, and this often helps to get the creative mojo moving when it's all but stalled out.
Fourth, push through the scene and leave yourself notes either with track changes or in the text itself and highlighted. Tell yourself: "Come back and fix x, y or z and add a, b or c." Be as specific as you can and then move on.
Fifth? Oh, fifth. I rarely do this, but sometimes it's best to step away for a fixed amount of time and do something else. The key here is *FIXED* amount of time. You can't walk away and leave it alone forever. Nothing's ever finished that way. If I'm forced to resort to this method, I give myself a maximum of a few hours. That way I know I'm destined to come back and this is just a little creative "time out" to get myself together.
No matter what, don't quit!
Second, try music. Take time to set up a playlist for your manuscript or a particular scene.
Third, shut everything down, find a dark place and lie there, thinking about which senses the scene will invoke. Find a way to use all five of them. Senses are all about stimulation, and this often helps to get the creative mojo moving when it's all but stalled out.
Fourth, push through the scene and leave yourself notes either with track changes or in the text itself and highlighted. Tell yourself: "Come back and fix x, y or z and add a, b or c." Be as specific as you can and then move on.
Fifth? Oh, fifth. I rarely do this, but sometimes it's best to step away for a fixed amount of time and do something else. The key here is *FIXED* amount of time. You can't walk away and leave it alone forever. Nothing's ever finished that way. If I'm forced to resort to this method, I give myself a maximum of a few hours. That way I know I'm destined to come back and this is just a little creative "time out" to get myself together.
No matter what, don't quit!
More Answered Questions
Hannah Ruth
asked
Kelli Ireland:
Do you have any new books? Maybe you can send me for a review. I can't afford to buy any and Library isn't getting it. And my mom just got out of hospital, from nearly dying on Christmas. Please message me if you can. I loved your books you sent me from "Pleasure Before Business" Thanks so much!
Carla
asked
Kelli Ireland:
Hi Kelli. I was informed back on March 4th that I was one of our First Reads lucky winners from Good reads. I was told that I would receive a free copy of Raising Cain (The Key Guardians, #1) in the mail. To date, I have not yet received this book. Can you please inform me when I can expect this novel? It would be greatly appreciated.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more