Goodreads asked Janie Conway-Herron:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Janie Conway-Herron I have one really great exercise that I have given to many of my students over two decades of teaching creative writing both in Australia and overseas. I also use it myself when I'm feeling blocked. It has to do with making space around you and not listening to that awful critic that sits on your shoulder negatively judging every word you write. The editor/critic is useful when you're refining your writing but not when you're just starting out.

1. Give yourself at least an hour where you make sure you can be by yourself in a quiet place uninterrupted.

2. Make sure you have a pen or something to write with by hand (handwriting works better than typing into your computer I think).

3. For around twenty minutes write as fast as you can anything that comes into your head no matter how nonsensical or ridiculous it might seem. Don't think about it just write. Don't edit as you go just write anything that comes into your head. Your hand will probably hurt but try to keep going without stopping.

4. At the end of fifteen - twenty minutes have a look at what you've written. I'd be surprised if there aren't a few choice sentences and/or phrases and words there to provide a starting block for a story or to use in a story you already have.

5.Keep the work. File it away. You never know when it might provide some inspiration for the start of something new.

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