Goodreads asked Jennifer M. Baldwin:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Jennifer M. Baldwin I use three different methods. The first is that I outline the heck out of my stories so I don't end up stuck. If I already know what's supposed to happen in a scene, I don't get blocked. So I've become a super-outliner.

The second method I use is something I call "Writer's Block Journal." It's a separate file where I write down my thoughts, no matter how mundane or unrelated to my stories. It's just a way to vent and get my fingers typing. I'll do a few minutes of the Writer's Block Journal, and then after writing about nothing for awhile, I'm ready to actually start working on something substantial. I feel that if I confront my writer's block head-on, acknowledge that I'm avoiding my story for whatever reason, and then write a little bit to get into the rhythm of typing, I find I get over the block pretty quickly. What's death for me is going on the Internet to do random surfing. When I do that, my writer's block gets out of control.

My third method is to work on multiple projects at once. If I wake up on a given day and I'm not feeling my Merlin series, I just open up one of my short stories, or my novella, and work on one of those. I figure it's better to work on something different than not work at all.

flag