Reading for Writer's Block

Not to develop a writer's block, but to get around one. And I am not necessarily suggesting reading about it, although much material is available from Amazon about writer's block! In general, reading can help with several different kinds of literary constipation. Take my friend Susie, for example. She was having problems starting to write a mystery novel. Part of the story involved a New Age healer who used crystals.

"Do you know anything about the topic?" I asked.

"Just that it exists," she confessed.

Suse is lucky enough to be able to buy any book she wants, so we browsed through a big box book store and found a perfect reference on the topic. She probably could have found something similar in the public library. Later Susie said that reading about the different types of crystals, especially their uses, gave her several plot points and got her out of the writing slump.

Let's look at what really happened: reading something related to what she was writing about fulfilled two functions to ease her writer's block. First it filled a knowledge gap she hadn't realized was holding her back. Secondly, it provided sparks of inspiration that ignited her zest for writing again.

Read around the block.