When NOT to write

Even the most prolific brains need a break. Irritating as interruptions in creative flow may be, they can be a blessing if properly used. That's where I have been recently; on a brain cell break for fiction writing. Yes, even experienced writers need breaks.

Creativity is like a battery that cannot be "ever- ready".  Before you pour out insightful concepts and sparkling words, you need to fill your creative battery with new input. Forced writing is rarely good writing. I think that this lack of refilling is the real reason for writer's block.

 Get out of the office and put down the computer! Look around you. Walk in a crowd. Listen at the mall, airport or coffee shop. What are people saying? What interests them? What fascinating words or phrases do you hear? And the added benefit is, of course, a latte break.

Until you are brimming with thoughts so that the words are pressing to get from your brain to your typing fingers, put aside creative writing. For fiction writers, you will know its time to get back to work when the characters in your head are getting pushy to have their story told.