No, at that stage of my life I regarded creative writing as more of obstacle than an opportunity. I learned after graduating from college the importance of being able to communicate intelligently and persuasively through writing. Fiction is a brand new gig for me - I would love to be able to do it full-time, but I'm keeping my day job for now ;).
Of course, who hasn't. What I found works is to disengage from that section to allow the brain to unlock. It may be working on a different section of the book or just uncouple completely and do something enjoyable. What never works for me is to keep bashing away at the same point.
I grew up without female siblings or close friends, then I went into the military (and this was back in the old days when females were just starting to get in the regulars). To say that I lacked understanding or experience with how females think and express themselves was an understatement. I still find it extremely challenging to find the "sweet spot" for how much emotion a female character should feel and express. For help, I fall back on my wife and a few very trusted female colleagues as exemplars - I ask myself, what would one of these women feel and do in this situation?
I've been an analyst for years. A successful analyst needs to go beyond a data dump with the customer - he/she needs to explain what the numbers mean and why that is important to the question at hand. A number of people I have worked with expressed that I made the math interesting - usually by writing the report like a story of discovery. I decided to try and see if that "talent" could translate into fiction - fingers are crossed!
From the receiving end: accuracy, credibility, and enjoyability. For non-fiction, the first two are must-haves and the third is desirable. For fiction, enjoyability is paramount. Accuracy can be sacrificed, as long as it doesn't drag down the credibility. In all cases, the "mechanics" (grammar, usage, style) must be flawless - nothing wrecks credibility more completely than poor writing. The best advice here is to get over yourself: hire an editor and buy editing software (I use both Grammarly and ProWritingAid).
