Comments on: See How Easily You Can Motivate Yourself

By: Imposter Syndrome: One Writer's Experience

Imposter Syndrome: One Writer's Experience — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:34:23 +0000

[...] While sitting in the audience, I enjoyed the class so much and experienced such excitement over writing that I could barely keep my legs from shaking. I felt motivated, if not completely compelled to run to my laptop and start writing my story. [...]

By: Tips on Staying Motivated

Tips on Staying Motivated — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:54:28 +0000

[...] Procrastinating Writers - See how easily you can motivate yourself [...]

By: Marla Beck, The Relaxed Writer

Marla Beck, The Relaxed Writer — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:04:42 +0000

This is a fantastic post, Jen – great suggestions, here.

Whenever one of my life-coaching client report that they’ve “lost steam” or have been avoiding their writing project, we get back to basics. And reconnecting with “what’s fun?” is the very first place we start. I think you’ve picked a perfect tip to top your list.

@lara, your comment reminds me of my knitting project. My 2-year-old keeps me very busy, but in small moments I knit a row or two on the scarf I’m making for my husband. It’s gratifying to see my efforts accumulating into something – inch by inch.

By: lara

lara — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:38:17 +0000

Another great post, Jen. I’m a master list-maker and I know that’s the only way I get through any project. Of course writing a novel seems like an insurmountable challenge some days, but writing a character sketch is pretty do-able. You have to start with something and all those ‘somethings’ eventually will turn into something big if you take it one step at a time. We all lead busy lives and trying to find an hour to write (much less an entire day) is hard, but what if you can write just 4 times a day for 15 minutes each? There’s an hour. And making consistent progress will make you all the more excited to get back to it again as soon as you can.

By: jblan

jblan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:37:28 +0000

@Paulo Campos I’m glad that this post caused you to take action and make a list of questions to answer in your novel. Every little step you take will get you to that novel-writing finish line.

By: Paulo Campos

Paulo Campos — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:45:07 +0000

One thing that often manages to renew my interest in a writing project is to break down its components and start trimming them down.

For example, I’m revising a story that I wrote nearly a year ago and didn’t particularly like. My feeling was that the first draft dragged in places and when I reread it I decided to see what might happen if I cut some of the eight characters out. Only two are left.

This has really motivated me to revise the rest of the story, because its new sparseness raised questions I’m compelled to answer.
-What might these characters say to one another that they hadn’t before?
-Considering that the creepy character is holding a hammer, how will the suspense change now that no one else is present?
-Does it still matter that a country club is nearby?

Thanks for a thought-provoking post! I really enjoyed it, because actually writing out a list of these questions somehow hadn’t occurred to me until now.