It’s April already, the first Wednesday in April, and that means <drum roll> IWSG Day!

This month’s optional question is: When your writing life is a bit cloudy or filled with rain, what do you do to dig down and keep on writing?

I have three tricks I use in those down moments, and I’d like to share them today.

1. Write Something Every Day.

I don’t believe in writer’s block! When you’re writing for money, there’s no such thing as “I don’t feel inspired.” (I also don’t entirely trust the high of “feeling inspired,” because I’m not always as brilliant as I think am.)  Every day, I write *something*. Even if that means taking ten seconds to write something like, “I am totally uninspired today and why am I even bothering to write this down?” I occasionally vent to my journal. A lot.

In my copywriting life, when I’m feeling really down I’ll sometimes take super easy, super low-paying jobs just to do something with Minimal Pressure. Better to get a few bucks for a few minutes of my time than zero for nothing right? I find that those tiny gestures are often all I need to get myself out of that slump.

2. Read Something Every Day.

I firmly believe in reading different kinds of books to get inspired and keep my brain limber. You never know what ideas you’ll discover in unexpected places. I recently discovered the Jaine Austen series, which I picked up on a whim because of the name. This series follows a freelance writer who is also a sometime amateur detective and reading along has helped me to laugh at some of my own silliness! I also recently read Stephen Hawking’s Illustrated Brief History of Time. The world has lost a great light with his death. If authors like Hawking and Neil deGrasse Tyson can make theoretical physics sound interesting, then (almost) anything is possible. Maybe even time travel?

3. Have a Support Network.

Last but not least, I think we all need people (like the awesome peeps in IWSG!) we can talk to and who can keep us accountable. We’ve all hit that slump where you realize you haven’t written anything, not even a sad little note to yourself in weeks. We’re all human. We get it. Right?

What about you? How do you deal with writer’s block?

Happy IWSG Day and Happy April!