So, you’re having trouble writing? Stuck in a mud hole that you can’t seem to drag yourself free of? Getting your mind off of the task at hand and letting the juices boil sometimes works for some people. However, playing Solitaire and spinning your wheels in non-constructive and non-creative activities usually do nothing for me but focus my frustrations back on the supposed block.
I try these handy little pump-primers to get the creative juices flowing once again, unfurling my sails upon the tradewinds of imagination and letting my dreams take me wherever I can chronicle those goings-on.
Inspiration is all around us. There are no blocks but the ones you choose to put in your way.
Success is found in failure?
The most important thing to let yourself do is fail. George Bush failed and flipped four wildcatter oil companies in rapid succession and he’s the President, so why should failure stop you? Once you get over your fear of coming up with garbage, crap, and boring prattle you will see your production increase many fold. Sure, your garbage and crap will pile up, but then you will have the opportunity to pick through the rags and weeds and find the hidden gems and diamonds. Assemble those elements you have, find the best in them, shelve the rest for a compost heap, and you’ll make some progress.
Now that you've taken your shot glass of courage, let's continue.
Read and watch other stuff
You need to seek out inspiration wherever you can find it, and the best place to start is where others have managed to capture their thoughts and dreams from the ether and place it upon the written page. Read, read, and then read some more. Strip away all the window-dressing and find the core plot of what you’re reading. Is there any way you can adapt parts of that plot to your concepts and dreams? Is there a part of the plot that you wish you could change or twist or alter to make the story better? Was something left out, or an opportunity for greater exposition missed?
"What if?" is a powerful way to start a question, and start a story.
Delve into parody, where you take something well-known and twist it in your own special way in a manner others might find amusing or enlightening. The online movie “Troops” was the twisting of Star Wars movie around an odd television show in the manner of COPS. Perhaps there’s something out there you can put your own spin to, or two things you can combine into one unique work of art.
If you've saved all your own writings, delve into your own writing and see if there's anything you want to add on to or explore. I keep all of my Sent Mail, posts, and other writings no matter what, and I comb through them for "accidental" opportunities.
Listen and take notes
Truth is always stranger than fiction, so take a few notes during the day and evenings on things that amuse or confuse or interest you. If you have something said or heard something particularly witty, make a note of it and add it to your database of thoughts and observations.
Take notes using a notepad or Palm or digital voice recorder or even a laptop computer. If you’re any good with databases, chop up your notes into categories and create a file from which you can draw ideas. Even if something is the most boring event in your mundane life, if you put these events all down on paper you may wind up seeing something in retrospect that you didn't notice before.
This is particularly useful in pubs and bars, where people (including yourself) have a looser grip on their realities and allow themselves to take wing in flights of fancy. Just be careful… you may wind up spiraling down the dangerous road that William Burroughs did with his drugs, alcohol, and William Tell imitations. (Unless, of course, you're looking to spend the rest of your life in Interzone working for Control and Dr. Benway's minions)
Don't interrupt. Practice letting someone else complete their thoughts before prompting them for more. If you concentrate on your responses, you cannot concentrate on listening and ingesting information. If you're worried you'll never get a word in or a smart response, remember that most people repeat their best stories over and over again. You'll get your chance eventually.
For instance, I had started on a journal of my day when I came across the grocery sacker asking me if I wanted paper or plastic. I had asked him for paper, but what if I had asked him for plastic? Maybe there's other options I have yet to consider… what would these options be…
A coworker thanked me for changing his e-mail address to one that he wanted, but someone at another business division had held until they mysteriously vanished. Foul play, perhaps?
Candy Apple Days, The Tooth Gorilla, and Among The Lawless are taken from instances in my life where I stopped to wonder about what was going on around me and trying to make sense (and nonsense) of it.
See? By laying out the path, you may find some roads less-traveled.
Daydream and Ask Questions
If you’re standing in line at McDonalds, space out a bit and start associating random things together. Let your imagination carry you away and let yourself float around the room observing things. Give people names and relationships and occupations to tickle your fancy. Ask yourself a bunch of silly What If questions and then play with the results.
See those strike anywhere matches… how do they know they can strike anywhere?
Hear someone say judge, jury, and executioner… where would such a thing be possible?
Why is that person in front of you looking at their watch? Are they late to their juggling practice or their tanning booth session?
Is it really illegal to remove those tags from the mattresses? Why? How do the police handle such things? Do they train people on how to deal with this situation? What do people do with the tags, anyway?
Play-act it out for a while, exploring how everything will connect together.
Look at things from another perspective
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is a beautiful instance of this happening… a subplot or minor character from a famous work is spun-off for further exploration. Somebody’s already created the world in which you’re exploring… now all you have to do is go outside of the boundaries they’ve made and do a little peeking and poking around.
For example, “Death of a Salesman” annoys the crap out of me. Don’t the neighbors notice that Willy and his brood are a no-good band of delusional weirdoes? I decided to take my annoyance to task and write another story from the perspective of Willy Loman’s neighbors called “Death of a Salesman’s Neighbors.” By changing the perspective, I found myself challenged to write a new story and take a different tack on the tragedy that was going on next door. Also, I had fun explaining the flute playing in the background… it was the neighbor’s daughter practicing. The title reflects the ending… Willy’s car crashes into the neighbor’s house, killing them in their living room.
Abuse the crap out of yourself
You're probably doing most of your thinking with your brain (some people don't), so why not torture the heck out of your brain? Go on long walks without water and dehydrate yourself into a hallucination. Get rip-roaring drunk and jabber on incoherently in a bar, recording your blither. Intentionally injure yourself so that you receive pain medication that can get you high and get you some good ideas. It's no mistake that many famous writers are drunks and/or junkies.
Unblocking Writer's Block? 
Linear Mode
