What Do You Do When You Can't Seem To Think Of Something To Write

I've been in a bit of a rut lately, and I was wondering if you all could help me out. It seems like this whole summer, I haven't been able to write anything good, I have a ton sketches, but they all suck. So, what do you guys do when you seem to have composer's block? 

Long shower, long walk or bike riding, a nap, alcohol... whatever gets you excited.

Smoke two joints before you smoke two joints, and then smoke two more.

is not writing music too obvious?

Think of something unpleasant..., me for example!

For me, composition is an occasional pastime, so a writer's block does not bother me. If I feel like composing something but I don't have any idea, I would write using some system or formula, so that I don't have to think.

I stop composing.

Listen.

do something you don't usually do. Go appreciate other arts, like dance, acting, painting, sculpture, photography... If you play an instrument, just play with it aimlessly for sometime, good ideas may come to you unexpectedly. Go visit a place you've been in your childhood. Read poems....

In fact, the best way to surpass this moment, for me, is: stop composing and stop thinking about it^^

thanks for the help everyone! I guess I probably should just take a little break :p 

Have you even used a sequencer, beat box, groove generator, etc? If you're beholden to paper and pen you might benefit from a trip to the local music store to buy a toy or two.

Just a thing that can happen to all of us, tousand and none ideas, and nothing comes from any of it. Every idea being discarded as crap.
Take a walk, get away from it all, stop the 'I must have a good idea' thoughts. Let the wind blow through. Don't use alcohol, you'll only get a headache. A joint might relax you.

Usually there is some problem in the background to be solved that keeps you from having inspiration. Make time to solve that and everything will come back.
During my teaching at the academy I had once a student who always had 5 or 6 ideas when it came to assignments, she sometimes had more than one executed.Then at one time she came up with little, When it was time to submit the assignment she came up with ... nothing. So unlike her. We had along talk in the academy's lounge, somewhere in the back of her head she had the idea that her parents were breaking up. I advised her to take sometime off and talk to her parents. Two months later she returned to the academy and was again bursting with ideas. I had these times aswell, dont push yourself, relax, nobody dies from lack of ideas, go to a museum, read a book, see a movie, talk to friends. Good luck!

I think the best thing to do is just continue to write, even if the result is awful. I don't think I've ever had some sudden burst of inspiration to write a piece. What I normally do is start writing something that is usually pretty bad, and about half way through writing it, I'll usually get an idea of what a good piece would be, using some of the ideas I've come up with and discarding the other 90% of crap. I then might go through this process again before I get the finished piece but the result is usually something I'm happy with, and I didn't need some burst of inspiration to come up with it.

If you sit around waiting for your writer's block to fade, it never will. In my opinion, you've got to write the most when you feel uncomfortable writing. That way, you eventually get to a point where writing becomes second nature and you never suffer from any kind of mental block. I'm not there myself yet but I have noticed that the more I improve as a composer, the less I seem to suffer from writer's block.

Also, when I did used to have really severe writer's block, I found that my problem was often with the beginning of the piece. Once I got the beginning out of the way, I could usually fly through the rest of it and everything would fall into place. One thing you could do, that I sometimes do myself, is take the first few bars of any piece and continue it as if it was your own piece. It takes that difficult first idea out of the equation and gives you a few things to work with. You can then take the rest of the piece that you write and come up with an entirely new piece using some of the ideas you came up with.

Onno, it could be that I'm going off to college in about a week and half way across the continent, not able to see my family and completely leave this place behind... and my audition music is freakin Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphases, which is a bit difficult. I'm sure once I get to school, I'll be bursting with new ideas. Thanks everyone for your help! 

Tuohey, that's what I usually do, and I have been getting better, I've worked under fast deadlines enough to not wait for a burst of inspiration, but this time's different, I'm not quite waiting as much as my mind is at a complete blank. It's always easy once you get past that intimidating score of empty staves, once I get past, it inspires itself, it's just that I can't seem to start. This time, instead of having nothing to say and nothing to write, I have an urge to say something, but I have nothing i can write down. 

ken320, I just bought an oboe, I have no money! and I'm buying college now, I'll never have money until I'm 40! But I've been looking for ways to save up for a good sequencer, and I have been playing with some online apps, but I'm not exactly an electronic composer, this piece is for the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra. 

Thanks a lot everyone! I hope this proves to be useful for anyone else who finds themselves in this situation, you all have some great advice, and it helps to be reassured that my career as a composer won't end at the age of 18 :P