Writer's Block

It happens. The moment in your writing career when you hit a wall with your work in progress. The manuscript you have been dreaming about for months.  The characters that come to your mind at all times of day or night. The ideas that started as a wrecking ball in your brain somehow take a wrong turn and get lost.  Feelings of complete frustration take a front seat.  You stare at the screen on your computer and watch as your cursor blinks at you, over and over again, begging you to just type.  However, your fingers seem to have frozen, and the thoughts are empty.

It's a very lonely feeling. If you are like me, the characters become a part of your daily ritual, always there to keep you company. When they are gone, all you have left are visions of a blank white screen. 

If you haven't already concluded from my topic, this is exactly where I'm at. My white screen of death stares at me day in and day out, begging for me to return, only to be left disappointed. My current manuscript has been written, deleted, revised, renamed, and screamed at so many times in the last couple of months I decided to take a step back and try something new. I decided I would back off for a while and maybe do some more research, talk with my "muse", read, work on marketing for my other two books, or just take some time for myself. 

I found the perfect quote for my situation and thought I would share:

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

- Douglas Adams

This simple quote helped me realize that it happens to everyone, and soon my characters will be back, begging to be brought back to life. Until then, I think I may try my hand at a new bit of writing, maybe a short story. Or maybe it's time to step out and enjoy the much needed sunshine of a beautiful spring day. 

To my fellow writers, what have you done to overcome writers block?