Forcing yourself to "just write every day" can make writer's block worse. Author Sylvia Liu shares the sideways fixes that actually get you unstuck.

Writer's block isn't one problem. It's too many ideas, no ideas, a muddy middle, a deadline that's choking you, or a world that feels too loud to write in. Use the wrong fix and you stay stuck for months. Sylvia is a former environmental attorney turned middle grade and dystopian sci-fi author, and her toolkit covers all of those. Lisa got unstuck on her own manuscript live, mid-recording.

In this episode:

• Why "writer's block" is really an umbrella term, and how to tell which kind you have
• The list-and-mash-up exercise that sparks story ideas (and the summer camp ghost story with horseshoe crabs)
• What to do when the news and the scroll are eating your creative energy
• Two plot fixes for pantsers: "stakes and agency" and the midpoint swap
• Mind maps, chapter thumbnails with emoji, and reverse outlining
• How the Beat Sheet Calculator can help with pacing, and why middle grade word counts keep shrinking
• Why walking without your AirPods may beat staring at your laptop
• The worst writer's block advice Sylvia has heard
• Why a throwaway secondary character may be the answer you already planted

Resources and mentions:

• Sylvia Liu's website: enjoyingplanetearth.com
• Sylvia's newest book, Now That We Don't Talk, released October 6
• KidLit411, a resource website and Facebook community for children's writers and illustrators (co-founded by Sylvia and Elaine Kiley Kearns in 2013)
• Beat Sheet Calculator, which maps Save the Cat beats to your word count
• TBR Live on Instagram, a weekly 30-minute group quiet-reading session

If you're stuck on chapter three, or stuck in your life, hit play. You may walk away with the one tool that gets you writing again.

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