I'm wondering about the diction option, as I am also considering using dictation to assist in my writing. Although I know people do it, I won't also try that during driving! What diction options have you used or recommend, if any?

If you're anything like me, it'll start a chain reaction that leads to you in your basement with a rubber glove on trying to clean calligraphy ink out of a fountain pen after learning that it is absolutely not the same thing as fountain pen ink.

I can't tell you how many times I've found my way out of a block just by talking to my brother, who by now has realized he may as well be wearing headphones during the conversation since half the time I realize where I went wrong halfway through explaining him the context. There's something about externalizing your thoughts that leads to solutions.

One of the nice things about getting stuck so often is, when someone else gets stuck in a pit I've been in, I can help them find the exit. Happy to share my thoughts on the topic!

It's funny, people often ask me to recommend writing craft books and I've read so few of them I always have trouble coming up with a useful answer. I'll have to take a look at the ones you've listed.

The pad and paper thing has been almost inexplicably successful for me over the years. I just recently went through a heap of old notebooks to throw out the stuff that wasn't worth keeping and found the "unclogged" notes about designing the cast of my Free-Wrench series and figuring out the motivation for the villain of one of my Big Sigma stories

Switching up software can also do the trick, like writing in a minimalist Text editor.

If the problem is deeper, perhaps one of fear of failure, books like "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield and "Breakthrough" by J. Dharma Kelleher.

Wonderful to see you here!