"It's so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to." Annie Gottlier.
All activities that have not become habits are a result of one of two things; enthusiasm giving you motivation or plain hard willpower. However, for the majority of people, enthusiasm does not last, and motivation is difficult to maintain. We suddenly realise what we're working on means hard work and will take months and years to get the results we secretly hoped would come overnight. Many people hit this in their writing early on. Pure inspiration will rarely carry the writer all the way through the first draft, let alone the second, third, fifth or tenth. And that is long before the ordeal of trying to find a publisher, if we go the traditional route, or the promotion and marketing necessary for self-publishing.
So how can you possibly maintain your motivation? To start with, you need to realise that motivation and enthusiasm are all in the mind. As I discuss later in my book ('The Five Day Writer's Retreat'), but motivation is an attitude. This is great, because it means that it is totally under your control, if you have the mental discipline to take charge of your thoughts. Our mood and thoughts are easily affected by our environment and experiences. Knowing this, you can set up systems that will reinforce your desire for your task and rebuild your motivation. Generating enthusiasm and a constant feeling of play and fun in your work are two great methods of doing this, and I'll detail some methods of increasing both of these.
Enthusiasm
1. The most effective tool for becoming a prolific writer is to be able to build motivation and enthusiasm for anything. Want me to write about the new changes to income tax law? Bring it on! Or on the eating habits of dung beetles? I'll think like a five year old and find it cool. If you can muster any sort of excitement, you will find your career flourishes, if only because people will pick up on your attitude and want to see what you can make sound exciting next. You will also be able to turn out more content because you will not constantly fight the urge to get up and do absolutely anything else. The difference between begrudgingly writing for an hour turning out 250 words, and letting your fingers tap-dance across the keys for an hour producing 2,500 words, is not just a measure of productivity levels, but something that can affect your health and the longevity of your career.
2. Remember that other people's enthusiasm is catching. Find someone else who is interested in the same thing you should be (like the flight path of swans in the winter) and warm yourself at the fire of their desire. In today's society of online networking, that person could be anywhere in the world, yet still only a blog post, book chapter or podcast away.
3. Sometimes, just reading about someone who loves writing is enough to remind me how much I love it too. So, beg, borrow or steal some books on writing. Ask for them for presents, borrow them from the library, or obtain them any other way you can. But don't read them as a job, or all at once, in one sitting. Savour: read a little bit each day, a sweet mouthful that tickles your taste buds and slowly feeds your enthusiasm. I find this is the best way to use these books. Have one at your ready disposal (in your bag, on your bedside table, under your pillow), and turn to it when you are struggling to sit down and write.
Playtime
Most importantly for your creativity, you need to think of your writing as playtime. If you think about your writing as 'work', your motivation will flee from you. Have you ever tried to get a child to stop playing in order to come in and do homework? Imagine being able to harness the untapped power of their enthusiasm for playing towards being productive.
1. Procrastination. Have you noticed how when you have something else you really should be doing, something worse than your regular chores, those regular chores suddenly become a lot more attractive? Such as cleaning up your bedroom when you should be studying? Similarly when you 'become serious' about your writing, maybe even giving up your day job to write full time, you suddenly can't find the same motivation for it. Now your writing is your 'have to' task, rather than your sneaky secret private time. It's the thing that you want to procrastinate from doing, rather than being the procrastination. How to battle this? Try to do your writing when you should be doing something else. Sounds stupid, but try it. Take on a DIY renovation or start doing your tax early. If you find these win out over sneaking off to write, then you might need to consider being a builder or an accountant.
2. Imagination. As you engage your imagination, writing becomes more and more like play - every time you sit down there is an adventure. How do you involve your imagination more? Set yourself a challenge that will need creative thinking to fit it into your work. During one essay and exam period, a friend and I dared each other to quote certain 'sources' in our essays. A friend of mine managed to footnote 'I am a fish' written in Ancient Greek (a wonderful tribute to the TV series Red Dwarf), and I used Terry Pratchett in an essay on Ancient Rome. The naughty secret between you and the work might only be a sentence or two, but it can turn a boring essay into a cheeky endeavour, and makes it a whole lot of fun.
3. Relaxation. As a writing ritual, I get home from work and go straight to the gym, come back and have dinner, then I get a cup of jasmine tea, and I sit myself down in my writing chair with a small sigh of relief. The day is over, and I don't have anything else to do but enter my imaginary world and write. A physical sigh actually helps a lot. And the the cup of tea (or wine if you prefer). Make this time a relaxing experience. Create an inviting environment and include little rituals that you look forward to. Maybe talk someone into giving you a foot rub when you get started... always worth a try!
4. No routine! Sometimes setting a word limit to aim for is effective, as this uses the 'goal achievement' aspect of motivation. But for some people, that won't work. It will make them feel stressed and constantly focused on meeting the limit. Kids play because they want to play, and they stop when they want to stop (or more commonly, when they are made to stop). They can go from one piece of equipment, over to the next, and back again as much as they like. There are no rules and no routine they have to follow. You can make your writing like that. Skip around chapters, write whatever jumps into your mind. It won't work for everyone, but it may work for you.
So there you go - three hints on enthusiasm, and four for play in order to maintain your motivation for your writing until you're happy with the product. I hope they come in handy!
All activities that have not become habits are a result of one of two things; enthusiasm giving you motivation or plain hard willpower. However, for the majority of people, enthusiasm does not last, and motivation is difficult to maintain. We suddenly realise what we're working on means hard work and will take months and years to get the results we secretly hoped would come overnight. Many people hit this in their writing early on. Pure inspiration will rarely carry the writer all the way through the first draft, let alone the second, third, fifth or tenth. And that is long before the ordeal of trying to find a publisher, if we go the traditional route, or the promotion and marketing necessary for self-publishing.
So how can you possibly maintain your motivation? To start with, you need to realise that motivation and enthusiasm are all in the mind. As I discuss later in my book ('The Five Day Writer's Retreat'), but motivation is an attitude. This is great, because it means that it is totally under your control, if you have the mental discipline to take charge of your thoughts. Our mood and thoughts are easily affected by our environment and experiences. Knowing this, you can set up systems that will reinforce your desire for your task and rebuild your motivation. Generating enthusiasm and a constant feeling of play and fun in your work are two great methods of doing this, and I'll detail some methods of increasing both of these.
Enthusiasm
1. The most effective tool for becoming a prolific writer is to be able to build motivation and enthusiasm for anything. Want me to write about the new changes to income tax law? Bring it on! Or on the eating habits of dung beetles? I'll think like a five year old and find it cool. If you can muster any sort of excitement, you will find your career flourishes, if only because people will pick up on your attitude and want to see what you can make sound exciting next. You will also be able to turn out more content because you will not constantly fight the urge to get up and do absolutely anything else. The difference between begrudgingly writing for an hour turning out 250 words, and letting your fingers tap-dance across the keys for an hour producing 2,500 words, is not just a measure of productivity levels, but something that can affect your health and the longevity of your career.
2. Remember that other people's enthusiasm is catching. Find someone else who is interested in the same thing you should be (like the flight path of swans in the winter) and warm yourself at the fire of their desire. In today's society of online networking, that person could be anywhere in the world, yet still only a blog post, book chapter or podcast away.
3. Sometimes, just reading about someone who loves writing is enough to remind me how much I love it too. So, beg, borrow or steal some books on writing. Ask for them for presents, borrow them from the library, or obtain them any other way you can. But don't read them as a job, or all at once, in one sitting. Savour: read a little bit each day, a sweet mouthful that tickles your taste buds and slowly feeds your enthusiasm. I find this is the best way to use these books. Have one at your ready disposal (in your bag, on your bedside table, under your pillow), and turn to it when you are struggling to sit down and write.
Playtime
Most importantly for your creativity, you need to think of your writing as playtime. If you think about your writing as 'work', your motivation will flee from you. Have you ever tried to get a child to stop playing in order to come in and do homework? Imagine being able to harness the untapped power of their enthusiasm for playing towards being productive.
1. Procrastination. Have you noticed how when you have something else you really should be doing, something worse than your regular chores, those regular chores suddenly become a lot more attractive? Such as cleaning up your bedroom when you should be studying? Similarly when you 'become serious' about your writing, maybe even giving up your day job to write full time, you suddenly can't find the same motivation for it. Now your writing is your 'have to' task, rather than your sneaky secret private time. It's the thing that you want to procrastinate from doing, rather than being the procrastination. How to battle this? Try to do your writing when you should be doing something else. Sounds stupid, but try it. Take on a DIY renovation or start doing your tax early. If you find these win out over sneaking off to write, then you might need to consider being a builder or an accountant.
2. Imagination. As you engage your imagination, writing becomes more and more like play - every time you sit down there is an adventure. How do you involve your imagination more? Set yourself a challenge that will need creative thinking to fit it into your work. During one essay and exam period, a friend and I dared each other to quote certain 'sources' in our essays. A friend of mine managed to footnote 'I am a fish' written in Ancient Greek (a wonderful tribute to the TV series Red Dwarf), and I used Terry Pratchett in an essay on Ancient Rome. The naughty secret between you and the work might only be a sentence or two, but it can turn a boring essay into a cheeky endeavour, and makes it a whole lot of fun.
3. Relaxation. As a writing ritual, I get home from work and go straight to the gym, come back and have dinner, then I get a cup of jasmine tea, and I sit myself down in my writing chair with a small sigh of relief. The day is over, and I don't have anything else to do but enter my imaginary world and write. A physical sigh actually helps a lot. And the the cup of tea (or wine if you prefer). Make this time a relaxing experience. Create an inviting environment and include little rituals that you look forward to. Maybe talk someone into giving you a foot rub when you get started... always worth a try!
4. No routine! Sometimes setting a word limit to aim for is effective, as this uses the 'goal achievement' aspect of motivation. But for some people, that won't work. It will make them feel stressed and constantly focused on meeting the limit. Kids play because they want to play, and they stop when they want to stop (or more commonly, when they are made to stop). They can go from one piece of equipment, over to the next, and back again as much as they like. There are no rules and no routine they have to follow. You can make your writing like that. Skip around chapters, write whatever jumps into your mind. It won't work for everyone, but it may work for you.
So there you go - three hints on enthusiasm, and four for play in order to maintain your motivation for your writing until you're happy with the product. I hope they come in handy!
About the Author:
Need help with self publishing, The Five Day Writer offers consultancy and services to make self-publishing easy. Five_Day_Writer
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