Every writer, even me, will experience lulls in activity related directly to your WIP. I'm not talking about writer's block. It could mean, you are waiting for feedback from Alpha or Beta Readers, and editors, or you have set your draft aside for a mental reboot before moving forward with rewrites or edits.
So, what do you do in the meantime?
Read books in the genre you are currently writing. Why? It stimulates the mind with ideas for your book. It can also show you what not to do if it doesn't work in the book you are reading. For me, I usually find help with how actions are well written since that is something I struggle with.
Clean house. You might laugh, but when I'm knee-deep in writing, I become obsessed. Cleaning the house is the last thing I want to do when working on a book. But, cleaning has a way of clearing the mind, too. This opens the way for more ideas.
Work on character profiles, if not already done. Even if you have created them, sometimes after you've written a draft, a character might change in a way you had not anticipated. Updating your profiles will help you in the future.
Research. I write historical fiction so I do tons of research for my books. Even if you aren't writing historical there will be things you need to research for your genre. If I stop writing to research something, my process is slowed down. By researching ahead of time, I can keep writing without unnecessary disturbance.
Update your bio. Your bio is used for many things, your website, queries, inside the book, or on the back cover.
Book Synopsis. It doesn't matter where you are in the writing process, a synopsis is useful for more than a query letter or the back of your book cover. When I get an idea for a book, I begin with writing out the story in a narrative. I call it a Preliminary Synopsis. It is usually several pages long. From this document, I can extract key information for developing a brief synopsis, book description, or as a basis for a formal synopsis that is requested by agents and publishers. When you are in a lull, you can start a synopsis, or update it with any story changes you've made while writing the book.
Find Agents and Publishers. If you plan to go the traditional publishing route, like me, this is a very time-consuming task. To find agents check out Query Tracker, my favorite; or Agent Query website and for publishers who accept non-agented submissions, Reedsy Blog Top Book Publishers has a list they update every year.
These are just a few suggestions. Let me know if these have helped you, or if you want to provide suggestions on dealing with a lull in the writing process.
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