Unclogging Writer's Block...What Works For You?

[realtraveller]

Early this morning I was struggling with finding the proper ending to a short story I'm writing. Somehow the wording of the ending just wasn't working. So I left my desk and took a shower. With the hot water pouring over me, the words to the ending came to me. After committing those words to memory, I recalled how many of the initial nuggets of my Epinions had just come to me while I was in the shower. In fact, I thought of starting this thread in the shower.

There it was, my shower was the fount of my muse.

Being more scientifically inclined than spiritual, I decided that the shower gave me some things essential to good thinking. Relaxation, privacy, white noise drowning out the kids, warmth, nudity (no I won't go there).

I'm sure everyone has a way to unclog writer's block.

Do you have a method or a special place that seems to work? Jogging? Driving? Mind-altering substances?

What's yours?

Walking 5 miles a day without water in the heat of the day. Dehydration leads to many a Vision Quest, kimosabe.

Also, getting drunk at a pub, rambling on about the headlines, and recording it yields much material.

[juliette]

I have found recently that a good cancer scare (I'm not joking) gets me writing more and better than I have in years. (I'm fine as it turns out -- now I can go back to worrying about that pesky Visa balance again!)

It is actually similar to your shower thing: just think about something else for a little while, and the words seem to uncurl themselves...