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@joelle-stone

I hath been summoned! Thanks!

@kylie-wingfeather

Hmm, familiar issue! I’ve had to take longish breaks several times, because of life, yaknow.

Here are several solutions that have helped me.

Plan out your chapter. Idk if you are a plotter or pantser, but just planning out the next chapter can help.

As Joelle said, talk about it! Rant about it! Get excited to be with your characters again. Reread your favorite pieces you’ve written and remember why you love your story so much.

Put one of the characters in a character castle or play a couple character games on here. The Character castle is more of a solution if you’re stuck with a specific character, though. But it can give you ideas and force you to see new sides to your character. (You might be in one already, I actually don’t know XD)

If you can, figure out why the scene you were working on doesn’t excite you. If needed, delete about ten lines. For me, most writer’s block has been one conversation that took a wrong turn.

If you can, come up with a different way that scene could have gone and write that instead. This has worked for me so often.

Now, I’ve never tried this, but you could try following a writing prompt and writing a short story, just to write something. 

If none of that worked, pick your favorite story, the one you’re most excited about, and just write something. Just a couple of sentences, if all else fails.

I do recommend the writing sprints! I got really stuck and distracted and that’s helped me write again! (Because I can’t turn down a challenge XD) Devote yourself to writing five minutes, and then you can quit if that’s what it takes. (And don’t compare your word count to others if that discourages you! It isn’t a competition and stories don’t have an expiration date.)

Don’t beat yourself up if your writing is below your usual quality or you write slower. You’ll pick up speed again, and before you know, you’ll be better for the break.

I hoped this helped, and I wish you a high word count and cooperative characters!