Goodreads asked Andy Lynes:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Andy Lynes I don't really suffer from writer's block as much as plain old procrastination. There are some days when the word's come easily, others when it feels completely alien, an impossible task.

One way to get things moving is not to look the piece of writing as a linear thing, but each paragraph as an individual building block that can be created in any order and slotted together at the end. In practice, that often just means giving yourself permission to start in the middle or at the end and once you have a few words down on paper, the performance anxiety fades away and you can write the piece start to finish.

But with longer, more complex pieces, it can be extremely helpful to have a plan, even if that's just a list of bullet points which you can then tackle in the order that feels most comfortable. Do the easy stuff first, and build up to what seems the most problematic.

Another strategy is to turn off your internal editor and just rush through a first draft. Pretty soon, instead of nothing, which you can't work on, you have something which you can re-write, correct and edit. It can be tricky to suppress the urge to go back and delete and re-write as you go along, and sometimes it's perfectly OK to do that as long as you are making headway. If, after an hour you are still in that first tricky paragraph then it's time to take stock.

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