Goodreads asked David Leite:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

David Leite I don't believe in writer's block. (I think this is a holdover from my advertising days when I had to turn in copy at the end of the day, no matter what.) If I’m stuck as a writer, I believe one of two things is going on:

1. I'm not sure of where to go, and writing activities aren't going to get me there. (So writing exercises and diagramming are useless to me.) I'm cogitating, digesting, filtering, sifting, and I have to honor that. I usually try to do something entirely different. Taking a shower is great for me. I get a lot a good ideas there, like a first line of a New York Times article, which then gave me my structure for the article. Taking a walk is effective. A once-around the country block helped me come up with this. (I always have my phone with me so I can dictate notes and ideas.) Taking a few days off, if I can, helps me, too.

2. I'm being a perfectionist. Trying to write the perfect first sentence, after which follows the perfect second sentence, etc. is a waste of time and creative energy. It truly rankles me, but I just try to go on a tear and write as much as I can as fast as I can to plow through a rough spot. I know most of it will be garbage, but there might be a lovely sentence that summarizes exactly what I'm trying to say, or I might see a passage that could work as an opener or a close to an essay, chapter, book.

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