Hello Writers Block my old friend

[respoftw]

The age-old question:

Do you power through it and try to throw words on paper anyway or do you take a break and wait until the words come back?

**Edit**: Thank you to everyone for their suggestions! A few of you suggested that I try doing something else so I pulled out an abandoned fic that was stagnant at 300 words and finished it.

here be aftercare kink fic mcshep style

Comments

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Depends on the material.

I almost never get the usual sort of writer's block. If I can't write it is typically because I feel like crap. So...

If I am blocked on creative writing, it is most often because I am missing a critical piece. I have learned to set it aside and wait for that piece, because I'm getting nowhere until that happens. I work on something else. And while it usually resolves soon, I have pieces that have simmered for decades before I found that missing piece.

If I feel like crap but need to meet a deadline, it's usually nonfiction. I read fanfic or do something else pleasant to generate energy. Write a paragraph, read until I get another spoon, write a paragraph. When it's really bad, sometimes I'm down to a line at a time. I am good enough at this that my editors can't tell the difference, but that's after decades of practice.