I joined a writing group, She Writes, a week or two back. One of the preoccupations of many of its members is motivation, and what to do when it's lacking.
Lately, I've been lacking in motivation myself. A number of factors have been contributing to it. It's summer, and I battle a hot weather depression every year. (I like snow, not beach weather.) I'm poor and stress out way too much about money. Plus, it seems like no one is willing to pay me a living wage to do anything I'm qualified to do. ($8 an hour just isn't cutting it, even if I were to move back to full time.)
I'm not writing this to be a downer, or to whine about how my life isn't exactly how I planned it would be while still in school. This is just to illustrate the hows and whys of my current motivation problems.
There are a few ways I've been able to combat ennui. I figured I'd share them for everyone who isn't on She Writes and hasn't been reading my responses there.
- Clearing out clutter. I'm naturally a packrat. Or, as some would call it, a hoarder. Except, when I'm at my worst, I can barely function. Right now, I'm working on clearing out all my old junk and cleaning out my apartment, which has been increasing my productivity 10-fold. Plus, cleaning is a good task to work on when I get tired of writing. After about 10 minutes of scrubbing floors, I'm ready to get down to business.
- Working out. This can be a double edged sword. Sometimes, after I work out, I crash. Sometimes, I'm so hyper I run around my apartment like a crazy person and can't concentrate on anything. But, I've noticed a correlation between working out and my energy levels. More energy = more writing. Feeling strong = more confidence. More energy + more confidence = writing my debut novel in a little more than a month's time.
- Reading. This makes a lot of sense. Reading is the foundation of writing. But, when writer's fatigue sets in, I find it helpful to read for a while. I pick a time limit or a page length and read until I reach my stopping point or replenish the will to write.
- Writing in small snippets. I usually do this a lot when I first start writing every day. Sometimes it's not even writing. Sometimes it's just putting a title on a page or opening notes I have to work by. But, the little things add up over time. After a few quick spurts of work, I usually end up writing up a storm without noticing I've gotten into the groove until I look up and realized I've written a few hundred words.
- Ignoring the end goal. In writing, keeping your eyes on the prize can be a fatal mistake. I'm not saying you shouldn't think about your ending. You should. In fact, I usually write the end to a project long before I finish it. What will be fatal to your project is keeping track of your progress in relation to your word count. If you do that, you will probably either get overwhelmed with your inability to reach the count or freak out when you realize you're almost finished. That's just the excuse your inner censor needs to start in on you. This brings us to my last bit of advice.
- Shitty First Draft. I read about this philosophy years ago. In fact, I can't even remember where. (If you know where, please let me know in the comments, so I can attribute properly.) Understand that a first draft isn't supposed to be perfect. It's a first draft. It's supposed to suck. As silly as this concept might seem, it really is freeing to know that a first draft is a ROUGH draft, and no one needs to see it if you aren't happy with it. Just keep writing and worry about grammar, spelling, and rewrites when you're done. Kill that inner censor. You don't need it, especially when you first sit down to write.
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