Every writer has been there—staring at a blinking cursor on a page, straining to find the words. Sometimes writing feels like a breeze, as if you’re simply riding the wave of your thoughts, and words pour out onto the page almost effortlessly. But other times, it seems like no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to find the words. Here are some ideas to help inspire and get yourself out of that writing slump. Turn off your inner perfectionist It can be tempting to try to edit yourself as you write, but any time you’re writing something new, it’s important to just get your thoughts and ideas down on paper first. You can always go back and find that perfect word later; don’t get stuck on it. It’s not going to be perfect the first time around, and that’s okay! First drafts are always messy. Give yourself grace. Don’t compare yourself to others and especially not to the writing of published authors whose work has gone through multiple rounds of editing and polishing. Rediscover your inspiration Go back and read your first chapter or synopsis. What made you excited to write your current project in the first place? Much like a hook might work for a reader, sometimes you can hook yourself back into your own idea and rediscover what inspired you to write. Read There’s nothing quite like reading to help exercise your imagination. Even if what you read has nothing to do with your current writing…

Leigh Stein, author of The Fallback Plan (Melville, 2012), will unashamedly tell you that she’s lived with her parents four times. Her newly-released novel, a coming-of-age about post-college angst, is spliced with details from her own experience and speaks volumes to the plight of so many twenty-something’s undergoing a quarter-life crisis. Stein’s protagonist, Esther, is a recent Northwestern graduate suffering from the post-grad blues. While Esther’s narrative is bestowed with details from the author’s life, Stein’s story has a few twists and turns uniquely her own. I recently sat down with this up-and coming writer to talk about her writing process, moving in with the rents, and her obsession with Pandas. When did you start writing? Have you always known you wanted to be a writer?:  I started writing when I was in acting school because I was so exhausted; I was in all these emotional scenes and I was crying all the time… So, then I would go back to my dorm room and write short stories. That year it dawned on me that writing was a job.  So then I was like “I’m going to be a writer.” And that was eight years ago! So, you went to Northwestern? No, no. I didn’t go to college. That’s a long story, too: I moved to NY when I was 19 to go to acting school. I had one year of acting school and since then I’ve been to the New School for a year and now I’m at Brooklyn…