There's a thread along the lines of 'your novel's soundtrack' somewhere here.
Music is what does the trick for me when all else fails. I usually have to find the 'right' music for the next scene before I can tackle it; fortunately, more often than not I have a good idea as to what kind of music I need/want, so I don't end up spending too much time searching for the right track. Although, admittedly, sometimes it's more searching than writing, but that only happens when I'm stuck. In which case, I find that spending more time on something that will help me get back in the swing of things isn't a wasted time at all.
Another curious thing I noticed is that the rhythm of the music I write to affects the rhythm of my prose (on the sentence/paragraph level). I've had beta readers read a scene or chapter to the same music I used while writing it, and they noticed it, too. Not to mention that if I find music that fits the mood of what I'm writing, it enhances the experience for me, and that way, I can usually write it better.
Yep, the above might very well be a self-suggestion. Which is okay, the way I see it, so long as it lets me get the job done well.
