Goodreads asked Sarah Courtney:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Sarah Courtney I try not to put myself under time pressure for a book. I don't plan anything concrete in terms of dates until I at least have a solid, complete first draft done, since that tends to be the hardest part to just push through.

For me, I do my best thinking while typing. I might have no idea how to get a scene going, so I just start writing down notes about what isn't working and why, and maybe other possibilities, and somehow as I'm typing the right idea will eventually come. Or maybe it won't, and it'll be another scene that I need to start over again. Even so, trying one thing and seeing why it doesn't work, whether it's just by writing down notes or by writing the actual scene, helps me find out what does.

I often get into a good routine each night of writing a scene, then taking a few minutes to plot out the next scene, making notes about what I want to accomplish, etc. Then the next day, I start with writing that scene based on those notes, then plotting the next. I don't write a lot per day, as I have six children whom I homeschool, so I only really write in the evenings.

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