Getting out of my comfort zone (& off my butt)

Sometimes I find that just sitting in front of a screen (staring at a blank screen) can be a cause of some serious writer's block and cause frustration that ends up with me (wanting to throw the computer) shelving a novel or ending up with a lot of unfinished WiPs that I keep telling myself that I'll get back to.

There are some simple tips for breaking writer's block:

• taking a little walk out in fresh air (my dogs love that little suggestion).
• go see a movie... as long as the ideas that come afterwards do not include a scene by scene recount of the movie's plot.
• do something wild and outlandish

Okay, I love going for a little walk around the block... when this happens I can't get away without taking my two dogs, who love me when I need to go for a walk, but sometimes just the little walk doesn't help.

I love going to places and doing things a bit out of the ordinary, and this usually helps to churn ideas within my little head. Even if it's just a drive up the mountain, or taking a 3 kilometre hike down the mountain in search of waterfalls in the rain... yes, I've done that (didn't find the waterfalls, found the camping ground, the waterfalls were an extra 3km walk).

Today my sister and I decided to go and explore some caves. Yep, a totally unprepared, out of the blue trip to the caves. With the trust light from our mobile phones we ventured into unknown territory, climbing up rocks and hoping that I didn't head butt the low hanging ceiling and give myself a concussion (glad to say I'm still in one piece). 

Being fully prepared, I had my trusty camera and decided to play with the only light sources we had in the cave (no flash from the camera here :D). What I can say about my little excursion is that by getting out of the house it does allow me to get a clearer head to help me think of my stories without the stress of deadlines, word counts or blank pages.

p.s. When I eventually got home I was able to finish the first draft of my WiP, Dark Sight... YAY!!!

So, what do you do to clear your head when you come up against writer's block?