Goodreads asked Sienna Tristen:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Sienna Tristen Chuck Palahniuk once said: "If you don’t know what comes next in the story…clean your toilet. Change the bed sheets. For Christ sakes, dust the computer. A better idea will come." This method of swapping writing out for mindless menial tasks has always worked well for me--when I'm stuck and a half hour of pushing through has gotten me nowhere, I'll get up and do some small task that takes me away from the screen. It gives my mind time to look at the big picture, or to attack ideas from different angles, or to evaluate whether this block is trying to tell me that I'm heading in the wrong direction entirely. (It also means my house stays fairly clean.)

When that doesn't work, I go and read. I have a short list of books, articles, and short stories that are thematically linked to what I'm currently working on, and usually all I need is fifteen or twenty minutes reading passages out of them before the creative juices are replenished. Good input = good output. Consuming is an integral part in creating.

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