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So many of you are doing the National Novel Writing Month and apparently many of you have hit the wall. Writer’s block you call it, but really that’s a very specific problem. What you actual have is just that moment when the book slows down. It happens. Its happened to me over the years with lots of books, not ever book, but enough. I’m writing book 30, so I know a few tricks to jump start the creative motor, and I’m happy to share.

1. Change desks. Change where you are writing. I have four desks in my office so that I can always move around if need be. Go sit on the couch, put on the TV for noise, but it has to be something you’ve seen a dozen times, nothing new.

2. Get out of Dodge. Take your portable computer or your notebook and go out to a restaurant or library, I prefer restaurants, and write there. I’ve found this particularly helpful over the years. Most of OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY, the ninth Anita Blake novel was written at St. Louis Bread Company/Panera. I find if I’m out of the office for this reason that writing long hand in my notebook can shake something lose rather than just switching to the portable computer.

3. Music. I listen to music when I write, almost always. When I write outside the house I take headphones and my music. I find that sometimes until I find the right music the book stalls. Sometimes I find that if the book slows, or horror stops, that finding new music gets me going again. I used to try and talk myself out of this, that I was being a baby and just to get to work, but I’ve learned that my muse and I love music, and my muse needs certain music. It changes with each book, but I usually pick an album or a band with several albums and build a play list around them. When the writing slows despite finding the right music then I’ll listen to a musical. That’s right on a bad day I have a musical picked per book and listen to that. If that doesn’t do the trick I resort to Christmas music. Everyone here knows if they hear Christmas music coming out of my office at the wrong time of year the writing is going very, very badly, and they try to avoid me.

4. Sometimes I find that even in my office that using headphones so the music surrounds me and cuts out more distractions helps.

5. Change your clothes. This sounds funny, I know, but on a morning when the writing has been utterly sluggish its as if the crap of the bad work session clings to my shirt and I find that if I put something fresh on it gives me a fresh perspective. I’m giving you the things that have worked for me. I don’t question why my muse and I get along, I just work to make it happen.

6. Brush your teeth, or wash your face, or put on some makeup, comb your hair; anything ordinary. I find that if the writing is going really badly I start getting anxious, nervous, and if I get up and do something mindless and ordinary it breaks the cycle of anxiety and calms me down. Often just calming down helps the writing begin to flow again.

7. Find what time works for your muse. Some muses like night for work. Some like day. Some are, gasp, morning muses. If you can figure out what time of day you write best then try to write at that time and protect the hell out of that prime writing time. Don’t let anything, or anyone, encroach on it. Your prime writing time is like a freshly killed wildebeest and you are the lion. Protect your kill, because if you let the jackals of distraction steal your wildebeest you may not catch another one that day.

I find that my prime time is usually first thing in the morning when I hit my desk. If I miss that first wave of inspiration then I can struggle all day and never hit my stride.

8. Stare at a wall. I have one desk that faces a wall. My other main desk has windows on either side of it for more of a view. On days when my distractibility is high I will change to the wall so the view, birds flying by, leaves, whatever cannot distract me.

9. Stare out a window. Some days sitting in a chair with a notebook in hand staring out the window is exactly what I need to get my ideas going. Just doing nothing helps my mind to settle and work. I can’t tell you how to decide what’s procrastination and what’s productive staring out the window. That is a judgment call that every writer must make on a case by case basis.

10. Take a walk. Lift weights. Do something physical. I find that sometimes too long at the desk just cramps everything up and getting the body moving can get the mind and the muse moving. I don’t know your level of health or activity so only do things you are safe and capable of doing, but a walk around the block can do wonders for unsticking a plot. I find that a regular exercise routine really helps my productivity.

11. Play with your dog. Pet your cat. Never underestimate interacting with a pet. Again, it can still your mind long enough for something to unstick.

12. Garden. Game. Do your hobby. This one only works in limited amounts, because its too easy to turn this into procrastination. But in small bites again it helps unstick the mental gears.

13. Sex. I almost didn’t put this one in, but leaving it out would be me leaving something off the list that really helps me. For me sex is refreshing to the spirit and the body, as well as the mind. It quiets my mind because when I have sex I think about only that, only the person with me. The endorphin rush of good sex is a wonderful boost to me and my muse. I find that sex clears my mind, and that once that happy afterglow fades enough for me to move, I often know exactly what comes next in a book.

14. When did you eat last? If you forgot to eat your mind can get foggy from lack of nutrients.

15. How much sleep are you getting? Tired minds don’t function as well.

16. Give yourself permission to be really terrible on paper. Let your first draft suck, but finish it. Once you finish it even the worst piece of shit can be rewritten, but if the words remain forever stuck in your head waiting for the "perfect" phrase you will never finish that first draft. Finish it, and even if its as terrible as you fear you can now begin rewriting it. It’s a first draft not a final one. Give yourself the room to be bad at this at first. You’ll get better at writing with practice like you get better at any job. Do you pick up a baseball bat and hit like Babe Ruth the first time? No. Then why do you expect to sit down at the computer and write like (Fill in favorite writer here) the first time? Trust me, my first stories sucked. Everyone’s first stories suck. Yes, yes, there are exceptions to all rules, but for most of us we learn first by being bad at it. Then we learn how to make the bad not so bad, and with more practice, more rewriting we go from not so bad to actually being good. I sold my first book, yes, but I didn’t sell my first short story, or even my first dozen short stories. But for every unsaleable story I learned something. Something that got me that much closer to being good enough to sale. Just remember, first you are bad at it, then you can fix it, and with practice you’ll be better, and finally good.