Motives, Ulterior and Otherwise

It's a word that is tossed about constantly in the realms of writers: Motivation.

In social media writing groups there is nearly a constant stream of posts asking for tips on motivation or offering advice about staying If motivated to stay with your WIP. People become frustrated when they compare their progress to others or just generally lack confidence for a multitude of reasons. The truth is that we are all drastically different creatures and, thus, we all have very individualized triggers that can put us on pace or bump us off the right track. Heck, what may work for one writer may absolutely de-motivate another. This makes advice incredibly problematic.

One thing that every writer or potential writer needs to consider, though, is: What do you want to get out of the experience of writing? Are you looking to simply be published? Do you want to make money? Do you want to accomplish something to throw in your childhood bully's face? No judgments, but finding what motivates you is rooted here. You need to reach deep down and find that reason and remind yourself of it in a way that connects with you. From there you can build out goal posts that should be reasonably attainable. Rome wasn't built in a day and, with very few exceptions, no book has been written in one. You aren't a failure if you don't bang out two thousand words per day -- you're human. If you write five hundred words four times a week you will still write a draft in under a year.

Let a goal post be flexible, and learn to be forgiving of yourself. If you fall off a schedule (if you even have one) don't beat yourself up. Just pick up and start again. Take a breath and find your rhythm. Forcing it when the motivation isn't there is only going to burn you out and, possibly, lead you to be unhappy with your writing when you feel flat.

Again, it comes down to what motivated you to even pick up a pen or sit at a keyboard in the first place. For me it was wanting to prove to myself that I could do it, and also prove to my family that they were wrong when they told me that I couldn't.

Some people succeed because of the people in their lives, while others succeed in spite of the people who surround them.

What's important is to know that you aren't alone. In those moments that you feel like you can't do it and you're a failure and should give up just remember that thousands of other writers have felt the exact same way -- often more than once. You've already made it this far, you WILL make it the rest of the way. You have stories inside you and they deserve to be told.