Grammar Girl here. Today, Roy Peter Clark, who teaches writing at the Pointer Institute,

a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Florida, has some great tips I would not have

thought of for overcoming writer's block. Here's Roy's advice. Every writer faces writer's

block at one time or another, but none so dramatically is the character played by Jack

Nicholson in the shining. What is shocked to see that every page of this homicidal writer's

thick manuscript contains the same sentence. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Solution? Take acts. Attack family. Be assured that there are better solutions to writer's

block. If you're stuck, consider these time-tested strategies to help you build momentum. The

key is to turn procrastination into something productive. Rehearsal.

1. Lower your standards at the beginning of the process. Raise them later. This advice,

which some people applied to dating, was issued most famously by poet William Stafford.

He argued that high standards create a threshold that inhibits writers from getting started.

The key is to lower your standards at the beginning of the process. Get that fantasy

of winning prizes or capturing hearts out of your head.

2. Imagine the story before writing a draft. Writing begins long before your hands get moving.

The more headwork you do before drafting, the easier the handwork will be. Such mental

preparation is a form of rehearsal. The kind we do to prepare for asking someone on a date

or a boss for a raise. 3. Rehearse the beginning by speaking it to another person. You can draft a

story with your voice before you write it down with your hands. All you need is a friend willing

to listen and maybe ask a few questions. Even an attentive dog will do, preferably a jack

Russell Terrier named Rex. Let the story emerge from your mouth to your ears and then to your hands.

4. Don't write the story yet. Write a memo to yourself about the story.

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