Lately I have found myself in the rather clichéd position of suffering from writer’s block. And it sucks. Rather than looking forward to those precious moments when I can sit down at the computer and dive into my manuscript, I have been avoiding the thing like a pile of warm dog barf in the middle of the sidewalk—and feeling exceedingly guilty for it.

However,  after about a week away from my project I got an unexpected burst of clarity today about what needs to be added to the plot and where it needs to go next—and was reminded of this quote by Neil Gaiman.

To those writers finding themselves similarly stumped, Gaiman suggests to “put it aside for a few days, or longer, do other things, try not to think about it. Then sit down and read it…And often, when you get to the end you’ll…know what the next few words are.”

Perhaps taking that break wasn’t such a bad and shameful thing to do—but exactly what I and my manuscript needed.