Stuck

So you’re stuck.

Here are some of my thoughts for you on this lovely (or stormy, depending on where you live) Friday night.

Things Not to Do:

1.     Bang your head against the keyboard. It’s bad for computers. And for your head.

2.     Hit random keys on your keyboard so you can fill up the page and pretend all those jumbled letters are words so you can feel like you made writing progress.

3.     Quit. None of that. =)

Things TO Do:

1.     Breathe. It’s okay that you’re stuck. You will get unstuck, honest. Do. Not. Panic.

2.     Figure out why you’re stuck. Do you not know your character well enough? Do you need to do more research on your setting, or another component of your story before you can keep going?

3.     Exercise. It gets blood flowing to your brain and helps you think better. Seriously, yoga has become my secret word count weapon. If I do 25 minutes of yoga and then sit down to write, I can write WAY more WAY faster than usual. It’s crazy.

4.     Breathe again. I have to remind myself of this a lot, hence last week’s post about how some days are like that.

5.     Brainstorm a new idea. Don’t do this EVERY time you’re stuck or you won’t finish anything. But sometimes it’s really useful. =)

6.     Rearrange your desk. Or clean it.

7.     Change rooms. Give yourself some new scenery.

8.     Find pictures of people who look like your characters. Maybe ‘seeing’ them will help inspire you.

9.     Take a break and try again tomorrow.

10.   READ! Seriously. This is another of my favorites. Alllll last week I struggled. And finally I realized it had been awhile since I’d read for fun. Sure enough, I started a new book and suddenly remembered why I love stories, why I love romance and suspense and writing and then I was CURED. I credit that and the yoga. And God. He should probably come first. =)

So there you go. My favorite do’s and don’ts for being stuck. Try some of them (um, from the second list. Haha) this weekend and let me know if they work!

Any other un-stuck tips you have?