Professional writers don't get writer's block

Now, before you start throwing tomatoes at the screen and booing me off stage, hear me out. writer's block is a condition where a writer runs out of ideas and things to write. This cannot happen in the professional freelance/ghostwriting world. It does happen frequently with amateur writers and with some really epic writers who do something great and then some publishing company puts pressure on him or her to do another great thing. 

The problem is that as a professional freelancer, you are being paid to overcome someone else's writer's block. And you don't have the next three years to do it. But in the real world where everyone has the idea for the next greatest novel, this does happen a lot. Mainly because you get an idea, and you don't flush it out. Instead, you start writing in a flurry of madness. And then you get stuck. 

The worst source of inspiration is dreams. If you want a lot of writer's block try to turn that really great dream you had into a full length book. I know it was amazing--but you had that dream that felt like it lasted for days in only a few minutes. Dreams are like snapshots, and you remember more about them than what is actually there. But it isn't enough. It is very difficult to turn one snapshot into a full length feature film, no matter how much you immediately jot down to try and remember it. Can a dream become a book? Yes. Just realize it is extremely difficult to do this.

The next way you can get writers block is by not thinking the book through before you start writing. If you can not lay out all the chapters and put a plot summary for each, you are probably going to get writer's block halfway through. A summary outline helps you know what is supposed to happen next. A few minutes before embarking on writing a novel can prevent you from starting something you can't finish. 

If you write a book that does well, and people ask for a sequel, that can also set you up for writer's block, especially if you didn't plan to write a sequel. In that case, move on. write something else--or nothing if you didn't plan to write any more. Or, you could find a freelancer to write the sequel for you. Your original book will be a new idea for him or her, not the old one that it is to you. 

Finally, shutting yourself in a room for months on end to focus on your writing is also another good way to get writer's block. Life and observing life is the source of a writer's inspiration. If you shut yourself off from life, you shut yourself off from creative inflow. Should you write in a quiet room--of course. But come out and interact with others on occasion. If you have a detailed summary outline, you are not going to lose your place. 

So what do you do if you find yourself getting writer's block? That's easy--hire another freelancer to write one chapter... or even the rest of your book. Or, you can even hire him or her to write about one of your characters going to the store or meeting the President. This doesn't have to be in your book, but it might help you find out something about your character that gets you past the block.