One thought about the feeling of having "regressed." Sometimes it really means that we're experiencing rapid growth.

Hang in there! :-)

I know this all too well.

It always seems the more I figure out, the harder it is to write.

I'm curious if it's cause we are reaching wider, or we've simply done it before and are trying so hard for something new and fresh that it seems impossible.

Or the more we know about the craft, the more we focus on the legistics of what we are doing, rather than simply doing it.

I'm not sure.

But I take comfort in the fact, the more I learn the less I seem to know.

I would definitely agree that if you get stuck you haven't thought enough about your characters.

I use Movie Outline but I only place scene location and general direction there so my characters will say what they want and not what I want.

But ALWAYS, ALWAYS outline. In YOUR format.

And here I come to dumb down this great conversation.

Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees.

To selectively pick from Scott's post...

Grab a chainsaw and tell those trees to "fuck off."

Cut through those trees...those little things that hinder you from telling y-o-u-r story.

And focus on the forest...that beautiful story that is waiting to be told.

I get into slumps where I feel my writing is crap. Or my mind just goes flat out blank.

I let the mechanics or the outlines or the beats or the "this" and the "that" (the trees) get in the way of telling m-y story.

Then I sit around and bitch and moan and then realize that I'm not doing what I love and should be doing...

Writing.

The best way to get that chin up and to move forward is to write.

It may be crap...it may stink up the room.

But if you write yourself through a slump the pieces will fall into place before you know it.

And then...

You can tell that chainsaw to "fuck off" and enjoy the splendor of that beautiful forest...

Your story.

Thanks for taking my question Mike.