Do you have a muse?

I tend to get a lot of great ideas for other books and if I could get around to writing them, maybe they'd be a hit, who knows, but recently I've decided to take some of these things and just integrate them into my current work as a scene here or a chapter there. Glad I started doing that.

One of the things I ran across recently (in my latest blog thread) that might be helpful here is, rather than trying to force your imagination, find ways to coax it. Little cheese trails to lead it out of hiding. I'm not sure what that might mean—use pieces of ideas from things you've seen—movies or books or whatever, but modify them significantly. Or ask yourself little questions like "What would happen if... ?" Or maybe you can keep trying to find ways to coax it, you might stumble across one that works. The mind is set up to answer questions. Once you ask it something it's like a Magic 8 Ball, and usually an answer will emerge, it just might take some time. It helps if the question is something you think about a lot, and don't just forget, and even better if it's something that stirs you emotionally (not too much, and not in a negative way).

I don't know if any of that will help, but it's all I can think of.

I think it helps to have a realistic goal. Not something unfeasible, but something that's visible and within your reach. It's much easier to chase a goal if you can see it. But if it's too far away and you can't, discouragement might hit you.

I feel that many writers fall for this trap, especially when they aren't quite ready to tackle their goals or don't have the means to.

You've written before and you'll write again. It seems like you are someone who cares so I'm sure of it! Best of luck.

I wish we could do a 50-50 swap of our strengths and weaknesses on this! My issue is that I don't have the ideas. But when I get a good one, the writing comes very easily to me. I would love to have a long list of ideas for things to write, but it's always very short. Currently I feel blessed to have two ideas jotted down.