Need Help Getting Motivated?
/We all know how difficult it can be to find the motivation to write. At Inspira, we probably know better than most how much potential can be contained in even the roughest manuscript. We have seen firsthand how incredible the results can be when authors refuse to be intimidated by the fear of failure.
You’ll never make your book better by sitting around thinking wistfully about what it might be like one day. Writing isn’t done by sitting in a windowsill, waiting for the perfect beam of stray sunshine to illuminate the world around you and provide sublime inspiration. Inspiration is real, and it can absolutely fuel creativity and provide a boost to motivation. But it is no substitute for actually writing.
Here are some tangible methods to help get you in front of the keyboard more regularly:
Set yourself a strict goal of one word per day. It sounds like a silly number to strive for, but often times the most difficult part is just getting started. Once you’ve forced yourself to sit down and write a single word, you’ll be remiss to let the rest of the sentence go unwritten.
Create an environment that is free from distractions. This could be anything from putting your phone in another room, writing where there is no TV, putting on some relaxing music, or asking your spouse or a friend to entertain the kids for a half hour. The important part is that you allow yourself to forget about whatever else might be clamoring for your time at the moment, and just give a small part of your day to your book.
Learn to write with distractions. A sort of contradictory piece of advice to the previous point, but they can have a complementary relationship. Do not restrict yourself by thinking you need the perfect environment to be productive. Writing doesn’t require hours of uninterrupted solitude. Maybe you have fifteen minutes to spare in between meetings; pull out your laptop and train yourself to become comfortable writing anywhere. Any practice is good practice, even if you feel like you can’t give it 100 percent. Sometimes you’ll find you created some of your best work in less than ideal circumstances.
Don’t edit as you go. Circling back every other sentence and picking over each word with a fine toothed comb is an excellent way to become mired and discouraged. Just write. Move forward, put your ideas into writing, word vomit if you have to; you can always clean it up later.
Don’t feel obligated to write the chapters in order. Not sure how the book starts? That’s fine, don’t wait around till you figure it out. Write chapter two first, or the ending, it doesn’t matter. Just write what is in your head and you can fill in the rest or rearrange the chapters later.
Notice a trend emerging in these tips? Just write! Identify the things that are holding you back, and work around them. They say the best time to start a project is yesterday, but the second best time is today. If you have an idea you feel is worth turning into a book, then you have a book worth taking the time to write. So get out there and write.
Happy writing!