Rx for Writer's Block

I ended up writing a bit last night about fighting writer's block--adapted in part from my response to a comment on the previous entry. So, you know, if it helps you, rock on.

One of the books we got assigned for a writer's workshop was really tough-love about it--I forget the book, probably because I was so busy trying to meet the frickin' class deadlines to read it--but the guy was basically like, "If you have block, it's because you don't want to write bad enough. Get off your ass and DO IT." He may have been more helpful than that, but I wouldn't know, because OH MY GOD I HAVE TO HAVE 5000 WORDS BY 5 PM. So let's take his advice out of context and say that "DO IT" is not, in and of itself, the most helpful advice. I think it can be helpful for a certain strain of writer's block, the fearful procrastinatory kind, but--and this is precisely my point--I think there really are different kinds of writer's block, and you really do need to treat each one differently.

( [Something funny here] )

Later today: what to do when you get stalled mid-story.

AUGH

So I broke down and downloaded Firefox. Again. I'd tried it once before, when it was on the 1.0 version, I think, and just didn't like it. Don't remember why; just didn't. But quite frankly, this was the final straw for me, because my computer really had started acting up after... HEY! Sister Girl had me look at her friend's MySpace! DAMMIT. I rarely go to MySpace. So of course the one day I go, there's evil in the banner ads. Anyway, MusicMatch is my preferred mp3 player, and it's completely dead now. There's nothing in the library, and when you try to add files, it just shuts down. So I'm using Yahoo Music Engine, which is all right, but I've lost all my ratings and playlists from the other (unless there's a way to import them. Hmmm...). It wouldn't matter, except that I keep a playlist for each month, so that theoretically I can go back and see what I was listening to back in October, and it was kind of cool. And now it's gone, because of evil at MySpace.

Anyway, my point was going to be, I've just downloaded the newest version of Firefox, and I've set up my old toolbars (I would keel over and die without my Yahoo toolbar. Seriously), and I've added a couple of extensions. What I want to know is, what extensions would you recommend I download? Like, totally useful stuff I should know about? I've already gotten a download manager (even though I use DAP already, but hey) and a thing that'll download video from YouTube. Ideas?

(Also, how do you dump your cache on Firefox?)

Meanwhile, I am working on the next installment of writer advice, which is less "advice" and more "stuff I do, so maybe it'll work for you." I ended up having kind of a busy afternoon, and then we watch Treasure Hunt or whatever on Monday nights As a Family (so twee!), because my mother and I are lame like that. What I'm saying is, I've only been at the computer intermittently today, so you'll have to hang on until tomorrow for the next installment.

Meanwhile: The Fountain poster.