Goodreads asked Sue Fagalde Lick:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Sue Fagalde Lick I find that it’s not so much that I can’t write as that I’m not sure what to write. I’m really not afraid of the blank page. After all, if my first words don’t work, I can cross them out or delete them and start over. But sometimes I don’t know where to start or which project to work on. Lists, pieces, and the kitchen timer get me past the writing block. Ideally, at the end of a writing day, I make a list of what I’m going to do at my next session. Then all I have to do is start at the top of the list. If project seems so big, I don’t know how to tackle it, I break it into pieces, assuring myself I don’t have to know how to do the whole thing right now. I can just write one scene or one section of an article or just try to write one stanza of a poem. And then there’s the kitchen timer. If I just can’t make myself write, I set the timer for 15 minutes and tell myself I just have to write that long. Then if it still isn’t working, I can quit. Ninety-nine percent of the time, when the timer buzzes, I turn it off and keep writing.

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