Stricken with writers block!

I was so excited for this three-day weekend! While others made plans for travel and partying, I blocked out all this time for working on Ink Is Thicker than Water (which was at 19k when the weekend started), but, alas, I was struck by writers block. It’s at 19,441 now.

In the past, I dealt with this all the time. It would be completely normal to go days, weeks, even MONTHS without more than a couple of sentences written. Nowadays this isn’t like me, which frustrates me further when I have all of this time with nothing to do besides write.

Ways I am currently combating writers block:

• Not thinking too much about it
  Sure, the Word doc is open, but I’m writing this and watching America’s Next Top Model (sorry, but I’m completely unable to turn off the Lisa cycle) and trying to keep my brain elsewhere, less I make myself crazy or force out some subpar work.
• Reading old stuff
  Oh man, if there’s any way for me to not feel like a complete and total failure, it’s to see where I was at, writing-wise, several years ago. The painful unrealistic dialogue! The cheesy plots! The complete inability to figure out story arcs! It was interesting, though, to see early versions of stories and characters I’ve done since. Huge relief to feel I’m progressing! (Huge embarrassment to think I ever thought those works-in-progress who were actually good!)
• Cleaning
  Okay, cleaning is boring and, like, one of my least favorite ways to fill my time. And if my mom wasn’t visiting this week, trust me, I wouldn’t be doing it. But the nice thing about cleaning is that I keep busy on a task while sort of letting my mind wander, and often that’ll help me work through whatever’s keeping me from writing more. (Not today though! At least I’m getting a spotless room out of it though.)
• Getting out of the house and away from the computer
  Often the best inspiration strikes me when I am nowhere near my beloved laptop (named Severus because I got it pre-Deathly Hallows and, thanks to its preloaded Vista, I wasn’t sure if it was friend or foe). The challenge of keeping that scenario or perfect line of dialogue can be an amazing motivator.

On that note, I do believe it’s time for Italian. Gnocchi, score!