Goodreads asked Jaclyn Gilbert:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Jaclyn Gilbert I read poetry, listen to the radio, or run...a lot! For poetry, I love anything by Sharon Olds, Kevin Young, and Elizabeth Bishop---and Jack Gilbert (no relation!). Poetry helps me consider small details, moments, and rhythms that can say more than a whole scene or chapter sometimes--especially when I feel stuck trying to compress time around a character's arc. I run almost every day to let the sensory, impressionistic nature of a running loop mix with what I'm working on, hopeful this experience might incite new ideas and opportunities by the time I return to my desk. Mixing up my running loops helps too--I go everywhere from Central Park and East River Park through upper & lower Manhattan, to Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Rockefeller Park in Westchester. Same goes for travel...when I am on trains (usually above ground on the Metro North), I like to listen to the radio and watch places slip by through those hours. I often free-write during this time, when my mind is in transit and propelled by a lack of stasis. I like to search for narrative out of this flux.

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