Beating Writer's Block and Writing Out of Order

This is the one thing I hate about being a writer: not knowing what to write!

Sometimes I have so many ideas that I can't get them down on paper fast enough. Other times, my brain is so completely dead that there's nothing there. And it takes forever to get anything going when it comes to my writing time. Writer's block is the absolute worst thing in the world. It's the last thing any writer wants to deal with because it makes you feel so completely useless that it isn't funny. It's staring at a computer screen at two in the morning watching the cursor blink blink blink with nothing to follow. The feeling is disheartening and sickening.

You know that old adage of "if you don't know what to write, just write" that creative writing teachers have been touting for ages? It's actually pretty good advice, especially when you have some random and off the wall prompt to get you started. I have a hard time with dialogue, but I'm great with description. So when I'm stuck, sometimes I have a standing prompt of "write a scene using nothing but dialogue." It's harder than it sounds, but it really gets the creative juices flowing.

Another thing is to write out of order. But I hate doing this! I'm incredibly obsessive compulsive about keeping things in order, so writing scenes ahead of time makes me uncomfortable. Sometimes, though, it's the only way to deal with it. It's the only way to get out of the slump of writer's block. I did that with the novel I'm working on now and it helped. I get the feeling I'm going to have to do it again, or else go completely off world and start working on a different series all together to break myself of the writer's block I'm feeling right now.

So what's the best way to deal with writer's block? How do you get through that mental stop that keeps the words dammed up?

The answer's really very simple... WRITE!