How to Get Over Writer's Block?

I have just finished writing my 900th children's story and I still have lots of new ideas for stories yet. It has taken me 17 years to get to this point. In that 17 years there were periods of a few years that went by that I didn't pick up a pen or I was just too busy to write. I always regretted not being more persistant with my writing over these time periods.

When I concentrated on my writing, I would sometimes write a story per day, with endless ideas streaming through my mind. However, when I was going through my dry spells, writing was always in my mind somewhere. Somewhere deep in my brain, tucked behind those cobwebs were story ideas just waiting to be unleashed.

It is usually my guilt that brings me out of my dry spells and back to writing again. I am sometimes really hard on myself when it comes to writing. I am one of those people that are constantly thinking, day and night. I have had many sleepless nights just because there is an idea floating around in me, waiting to come out. Unfortunately, by the time I wake up the next day, I very rarely ever remember what I wanted to write about.

I have suffered writer's block, just like every other writer in the world. When I have writer's block, I usually will procrastinate writing at all. I get up from my computer and wash the dishes or I do some laundry or do some housecleaning, anything to get me away from my computer and the task I have set before me. I sit at the computer for a few minutes, using msn or email or checking my facebook account. I get on the internet and search for random websites, again, procrastinating the fact that I need to write.

To help me get through my writer's block, I try to be more attentive to what is going on around me. I will pay more attention to what people are saying to me. I will pay more attention to the newscast I just saw or the newspaper article I just read. Most of the time, while doing this a catchy phrase or word will popup in front of me and then I run with it. I write that story until it is completed.

I find the best time for me to write my stories is during the day, when I am all alone in the house. I hardly ever have the television on when I am writing. I hardly ever have music playing in the background. I like total and utter silence when I am writing. I seem to concentrate better and my thoughts just flow like water from a river.

Other ways that I get over writer's block is to just start typing anything on the screen. It doesn't matter what I type but it seems that if there are words on the screen, the writer's block disappears. When words appear on the screen, my thought process goes right along with it and before you know it, my story is written.

I try to make a resolution to myself to write at least one new story each week. However, I would prefer if I could write one new story each day instead. I think about the people that are going to read my stories after they are written and so I have to keep writing.

When writer's block settles in really good, sometimes I have gone to a dictionary, newpaper or magazine and just looked at any phrases or words that catch my eyes. I will take that phrase or word and think about it, sometimes for hours, other times for days. I will think how I can use that phrase or word in a story. Once I have that figured out then I just start writing.

I find a lot of times I am in pain constantly. Sitting at a computer all day and all night is not the best thing that I can do for myself. I find that every hour or two I need to stand up and stretch or move around a little bit. I find that sometimes I need to eat something to keep going. Taking these breaks here and there will help clear your thoughts and it will sometimes spark your imagination so that you can get over this writer's block that you are having and just write.