Writer’s block can happen to even the most experienced authors when they are writing a book. Writer’s block can come in many forms ranging from not being able to start writing a book to losing steam at the end of writing a book. Many non-writers term writer’s block as simply being lazy and procrastinating before writing a book. This can be the case, but true writers know that writer’s block is often not laziness, but a mental block when it comes to expressing your thoughts on paper.

Since you are likely to experience writer’s block at one time or another in your writing life, it is critical to know how to conquer writer’s block. There are a myriad of ways that you can conquer writer’s block when writing your book. Let’s begin with writing exercises that will push you past your writing plateau.

One writing exercise involves reading the newspaper, Internet, and watching the news. These activities may be viewed as procrastination to the outsider, but are not if you focus on the “ideas” in the content. Current events are idea sparkers that can yield a story line, character sketch, or even a nonfiction book topic. For example, the current increase in gas prices could be woven in to a fiction plot or explored in a nonfiction book. Newspapers and the Internet also provide pictures that can help you create a character sketch. You might find a picture of an old man in the newspaper that brings ideas for a new character to your story. Write down your observations.

Another writing exercise while writing a book is to reflect on your life. Think of a past event that was of great importance to you. Imagine what would happen if you had made a different decision during that event. How would that decision affect your life? Where would you be now if you decided to take a big job in New York City after college graduation instead of marrying your high school sweetheart?

You can apply these “what if” questions to your manuscript. Think of different choices your characters could have made in the chapters you have already written. How does this change your story? Asking these questions help to get your creative juices flowing and crushes writer’s block in not time flat.