I have long envied those who can afford the luxury of writer’s block. O, to live the “writer’s life” and dray over what to say, what to say, what to say. When you ghostwrite, or even when you simply write for other people, this is never an issue. You say what the author or client needs you to say.

But sometimes, I write my own books. Not that often, I admit; no time! But I do have an internationally distributed title about the book business that needs updating in a 5th edition, a textbook on ghostwriting that needs updating in a 2nd edition, two novels that I’d like to squeeze in somewhere, and, of course, Sultana on ReadAsWritten.com. When I turn my attention to them … well, I still don’t have time for writer’s block.

The best way to overcome the question of “how do I want to phrase this,” which is my most common blocker, is to simply write it out any which way knowing I will rewrite it. The magic of writing is, after all, in the rewrite and editing. Those rare few who can create a final draft in the original, like Mozart, possess a talent far beyond mine. I may write and rewrite in the same draft, but I’ll still go back and tinker some more when I’ve finished.

Having trouble with writer’s block? Here’s two simple solutions, one for nonfiction, one for fiction. Nonfiction: outline the ideas you’re blocked on to the nth degree. Bullet-point everything you want to communicate. If you can do that, then you’re blocked on phrasing–just put it down any which way, as I said, and plan to rewrite. If you cannot outline or bullet point the material you’re stuck on, then you’re really not sure what you want to convey, are you? Pull back, look at what you’ve already written, where you want to go next, and figure out what’s missing. You may have to do a substantive edit (chart the project) to figure out what’s wrong; perhaps you need to restructure the material. Outlines are a blocked nonfiction writer’s best friend.

Writer’s block in fiction is more difficult, of course, but not really all that different. Don’t know what the next scene is? Try using the Meet-in-the-Middle plotting technique. Once you’ve got all 15 pivotal scenes mapped out, you can expand and expand until you know exactly how to connect them. I got my interns around a table and we mapped out my silly murder mystery in about 20 minutes using Meet-in-the-Middle. It’s fun! Especially when you’ve got a writing friend or support group there to help.

Don’t know how to use Meet-in-the-Middle? See page 57 in the 4th Edition of This Business of Books: A Complete Overview of the Industry from Concept through Sales.

(Hey Wambtac! Twitter this blog post!)