How to Bust Through Writers Block

Unless you are one of the very few and very lucky writers out there who have never suffered from writers block, this post might be helpful to you. Below are my top 3 suggestions to help you bust through writers block.

1. Did you plot out your story/book? No? Then perhaps consider trying it out. While some writers like to "go with the flow" and see where their writing takes them, this doesn't work for everyone every time. Imagine your story is a road trip. You've got the starting point (your introduction) and your characters are travelling to some destination (the conclusion) and along the trip there are some pit-stops and detours (which makes the journey interesting). One possible reason for a block is that the road trip was not well planned. Your characters went to the cartoon museum first when they should have done that after visiting the nation's oldest bookstore, and then, because they lost time back-tracking, they skipped the giant ball of yarn, so the road trip was a total flop. Hmmm... maybe I should have gone with a different analogy... Anyways, the point is that sometimes a block is caused by missing or incorrectly ordered scenes which block the flow of the plot. If you plot out your story first, you can plan out the scenes to create the best road trip ever. 
2. Step back and take a break. Whether this is from the book entirely or from a particular chapter or scene depends on what you feel you need. Sometimes putting too much pressure on yourself stifles your creative energy. Or looking at the same thing for too long gives you tunnel vision and prevents you from seeing other possibilities. Give yourself a break. Work on another scene or chapter, or maybe do some fun writing exercises to get your creativity flowing again. Then, go back to where you were stuck and try again. 
3. Do you have a writing buddy or buddies? Support networks are important. Not everyone can go solo all the time. Maybe you need isolation to get into your writing "zone," but when the writers block isn't going away, it's important to have a person or people that you can bounce ideas off of or that can read your work and give you honest, constructive feedback. Emphasis on constructive! Your BFF, significant other, or well-intentioned neighbor may love and support your writing, but that doesn't mean that they will be able to give you helpful feedback and advice, so choose wisely. Having a writing buddy or buddies who you can talk to about your block and where/why you are stuck is great because they will bring different perspectives and fresh insight. They might see the reason for your block when you can't. 

Do you have any other ideas for how to beat writers block? Great! Please comment and share what works for you. 

Did one of the tips above help you get through your block? Fabulous! Feel free to comment and share your experience.