Writing Ideas to Bust Writer's Block

In this post I want to dive into the issue of writer's block. I've read that writer's block doesn't really exist--it's just a ploy our writing mind comes up with to avoid the chore for a time. That last part I made up. Could it be as simple as procrastination? Apathy? A case of the "I don't wanna"? How about all of the above?

I know I have periods that I don't write. In fact, I had that 10 plus year hiatus from writing while I worked a j-o-b. Now you're learning, along with me, how I'm getting back into the swing of things.

So back to writing ideas, after all it is the title of my post. I came across an article on about.com with "Creative Writing Exercises" to get your writing when you come up blank. Let's see, there's freewriting, writing secrets, picture writing, dictionary writing, and keeping an idea box. All good ways to get you writing when you're working with a tabula rasa.

Another posting I found was "Words, Words, Words: Dealing with Writer's Block," which is a blog post entry. Pretty fun way of putting all together with my favorite being the "keep writing" section. The author goes into telling you to write no matter what even if it's phrases like "tumpty-tumpty-tee." I laughed because I've thought similar stuff but never actually wrote it out.

The last option I've got for you (and me) is "Hack your way out of writer's block." Great ideas and some funny stuff like "talk to a monkey" where you should actually tell a cardboard or stuffed monkey what you're trying to say.

For those that have the time the last post, "Hack your way...", came from a site called 43 folders. Lurking about in there you can un-bury a lot of good information. I've only just started sifting through, but I think I may come up with a few more posts before I'm done.

My inspiration is seeking inspiration through others. One word or phrase can put an entire idea into motion.