June Sobel - Writing Tip of the Day

June Sobel, author of B is for Bulldozers, Shiver Me Letters and Good Night Train has been a member of my writer's group for years.  She is kind, funny and incredibly talented.  I asked my buddy June to give us a Writing Tip of the Day.

GETTING UNSTUCK

MAKE IT WORK! The admonition of Project Runway’s Tim Gunn resonates anytime my work in progress has hit an insurmountable wall, a hopeless dead end that sends me in search of chocolate and cake batter.

I have been tempted to send my frustration through the shredder even though my words are alive and well in a file on my desktop. Sometimes I have had the clarity to know a manuscript needed to rest for a while. After a month or even a year, fresh eyes often yield the courage to delete or completely rewrite. But that does not solve the immediate problem of what to do in the meantime, tackling the problems on the page head on.
 
I have found the most fruitful way to “make it work” is to walk around a story the same way Tim would walk around a draped mannequin, folded fist under chin in stern contemplation.  Gaining control of my material and tools is what I really need.  I take a deep breath and open my dog-eared agent of change WHAT IF? by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter, a volume of exercises for fiction writers.  This has become my favorite and most productive way to become unstuck.  Following these prompts, I have found a revamped perspective with new roads to follow and new characters to create. Sometimes the beginnings of a brand new story beckon me in a different direction. The best part is that I get back into the rhythm of writing and prove to myself I really want to make it work.