What next?

Driven mad by an infuriatingly minor writer's block, I took the pen to my own skin. Didn't really help with the block, but turned out neat either way; I did consider getting a permanent one like this at one point.

As a casual typer/aspiring writer, I oft struggle with this simple question. I may have a story arc clear in my head, with a varying number of established plot points that may or may not stray from the original course of action as I progress and the story evolves, but once I have one of them written down comes the inevitable: how do I get to the next big moment? What happens now, right now?

In the end, I usually write whatever seems passably logical for the moment to get past this hollow space in my plot-designing and come back later, when the story is developing more smoothly afterwards, to polish off the rough edges or rewrite the entire part to better suit whatever action ensues. It is hard, though, to keep my mind off this dilemma; sometimes I stare at the blinking cursor or white piece of paper for long minutes with my mind blank, devoid of ideas. Constructing even one suitable sentence seems a titanic effort and I stubbornly refuse to skip passages and write something two chapters away, which is probably foolish - at least I'd be writing, no? - yet I know I have the tendency to wander with my words, getting further and further away from the original point I was trying to get across; if I forwent continuity, I'd soon be lost in a wasteland somewhere miles away from my own tale.

Perhaps I ought to try it anyways and keep a better lid on my own errant writing; no harm in trying, ecpecially since I do it for myself without plans or obligations. No better time for learning than now, as men wiser than me would say.