Motivation for Writing

               The most difficult thing about writing is, of course, writing. The motivation just isn’t there, your job is stressing you out, your free time is too dominated for such scholarly activities- so many distractions! But a writer isn’t a writer until they actually write. The planning and plotting that is schemed doesn’t make anyone a writer. So, what can you do to be motivated to write?

1.      Listen to music that matches the scene you’re writing. If it’s scary, listen to a Halloween track. If it’s a war scene, listen to percussion tracks. If it’s peaceful, listen to classical.

2.      Don’t set a word count goal for that day. The thing that is blocking you from writing is usually an idea of how much you need to get done.

3.      Keep your writing area clean. If it has soda cans or last night’s dinner leftovers on it, you’re not going to want to sit there, usually. Place a bonsai tree or something aesthetic there to make it more inviting and beautiful.

4.      Go somewhere else and write. Sometimes, a change of location can work wonders. Coffee shops are a great place, because you can keep rewarding yourself for writing as long as you are there. $10 or $15 can go quite a ways in a coffee shop!

5.      Find one interesting thing about the era your writing takes place and try to write a scene to include it. It’s great for world building!

6.      Associate with other readers and writers. For me, I added a lot of authors on Facebook. Now, when I Facebook surf, I see the progression others are making with their books or writing, and it makes me wonder what I’m doing on Facebook and not writing!