How do I get motivated to write?

Holding your published book in your hands for the first time is like holding your first-born child. OK, maybe not quite, but it's still a fantastic feeling. The first time I held my published work in my hands was a great day and it felt like stumbling across the finish line in a marathon, but even that is an understatement of the process. Receiving your author copy in the mail is more like the halfway point of the marathon if you intend to sell any books.

Writing a book sounds like fun and it’s a great feeling to pour your thoughts and creativity into a written piece of work. Many think it’s like carving a statue, picking out the perfect curves, and chiseling pieces to create a masterpiece. Unfortunately, it’s nothing like carving unless you intend to use a quarry for one piece. It might seem like once you get a solid outline of a book or create enough details you should be able to just sit down and crank it out in a few days. If only it were that easy. Don't kid yourself. The first way to motivate yourself is to know what you're getting yourself into and being realistic about what is to come. I used the following quote in my first blog post, and it makes sense to post it again.

Books aren't written - they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it. – Michael Crichton

This blog post isn’t about the process of writing as I’ll cover that later, but this one covers the questions of how do I get started and how do I stay motivated to keep doing it? The simple answer is perseverance, persistence, and motivation. This may sound great, but it’s actually horrible advice on its own. You also must also have patience and the ability to ignore writing altogether.

Writing isn’t as easy as many think. Even professional writers don’t always look forward to sitting and writing as it takes a lot of motivation and mental focus.

 I don’t try to write a bestseller. I don’t think anybody can do that. If you try, you will make a lousy book and it will also fail. But I don’t especially enjoy writing. I mean, I like it, but it is hard work. So, it is a bit like running marathons. Runners like it, but they’re ambivalent about it, too. So, I write because in some way, I am compelled to do it. Often, I just feel grabbed by a story and yanked into the office to start writing. – Michael Crichton

Having a great idea for a book is a good starting point, but before you rush to your computer and start writing under “Chapter 1” you must really establish the idea. Again, this post is on the motivation of writing, but coming up with solid characters, a plot, setting, and an arc for all of it to follow allows you more confidence to start writing. Start small and take notes and keep taking notes. I use a dry erase board next to my computer to keep track of characters along with their roles and obstacles in the story. This may not seem like it’s writing, but it’s a very big part of it.

There are many days I get home from work or I’m off and I can’t wait to sit down and write. I might have come up with some ideas and am looking forward to starting or finishing a chapter. You finally sit down, and it happens. You’ll go through your email, you’ll look at social media, do research on YouTube for four hours. I thought you wanted to write?

There are some days you find it hard to be motivated. For whatever reason there are days when you must force yourself to focus. It takes discipline to be a writer. If you blow it off today, you’ll start to habitually do the same until weeks and months go by, but it’s OK to give in now and again instead of mindlessly tapping your fingers on the keyboard when you’re just not feeling it. Again, life trumps hobbies any day of the week.

You have to establish daily, weekly, and monthly goals of completion. Don’t just say that even though you’re on chapter 1 that you’ll wrap up the book by fall. That’s not realistic. You might search for “how long does it take to write a book” and you’ll find the answer to be from six months to a year. That’s conservative if you ask most authors.

You might have a full-time job, children, a spouse, friends, family, other hobbies and responsibilities. Becoming an author will cut into the time with everything I’ve listed, and it takes dedication. But let’s be realistic. Your family and job that puts money on the table need to come first. Writing a novel shouldn’t be something you quit your job to do as it’s highly unlikely to earn you enough money to keep a roof over your head. Putting a strict timeframe on it is unrealistic and will frustrate you. Again, writing a book is more like a marathon than a sprint to the six-month finish line.

I still have a book that sits unfinished in a folder on my computer. The original idea for this story came about thirty years ago and the story is a former shell of itself. It’s been stuck at about thirty thousand words for about six years. I’m not worried about it as I’ve come up with other ideas that I’ve finished and have also fostered better ones. Patience is a must and there are times where an idea sounds great when you’re thinking about it, but once you start to develop it there may not be enough to pull a novel out of it. From this original book idea, I used various parts of it to help foster other ideas that have made it to the finish line. Books take time to write and just because it doesn’t come to fruition in six months to a year does not mean it’s a failure. You might come back and finish it, you might use it for other work, or you might just move on from it for a better idea. When asked, “How long, on average, does it take to write one of your books, from initial idea to publication?” Michael Crichton responded:

There is no way to say, it varies so much. The Great Train Robbery was 3 years. Sphere was 20 years. Jurassic Park was 8 years. Disclosure was 5 years. Usually, an idea “cooks” in my head for a very long time before I write it.

This quote has motivated me for years. Keep gathering ideas and develop those ideas into potential books. You can create an outline or write short stories, there is no one way to develop things but the big thing is to write them down.  I keep files on my computer of individual story ideas as well as on my phone in a note app. The second biggest thing is to keep developing them. Talk to other writers, ask for opinions, talk to someone who doesn’t care if it helps you to create. I’ve had many spontaneous moments just having conversations about things other than my books and many times talking about them I developed great things. It’s rare that someone will give you the best information for your idea, but being able to bounce ideas off someone else is a tremendous valve to releasing great ideas from within.

I used to bring a digital recorder with me when I walked my dog or took a walk. There are times when I’ll pace around the house and talk to myself about the book. I may pretend like I’m trying to explain a character to someone or walk through plot points. I may try to imagine the scene taking place in front of me in order to help describe things better. Find what works for you to develop these ideas and keep going. No matter how great you think your story is you will always need more ideas!

Persistence will get that book written. Dedication to writing is a must as you will need to chip away one chapter at a time and even after you “finish” writing you will need that dedication to edit or create rewrites. However, there are times when you just need to walk away.

You might find it hard after many days in a row of writing to get into a rhythm. You might lose your motivation to write or feel like you’re stuck in a spot. That’s perfectly normal and it’s also perfectly normal to just walk away. Take the night off, heck, take the week off. Sometimes it’s fine to walk away from a book for a month or more (if you eventually come back!). Time away is just as healthy as putting your head down and writing nonstop. Taking time off after completing your book and beginning to edit (even if someone else edits for you) is absolutely necessary to regain some objectivity to what you wrote. As a writer you inherently become blind to your work and less likely to see issues jump out at you. Trust me, it happens to everyone.

Sometimes we just need a reboot and time to develop things better. This is where that continuation of development comes in handy. If I “do something” for my book every day I feel accomplished. If I take notes on a character, part of a plot, or I do research on something I’m talking about I’m happy. But there are times you just need to take time off.

Being motivated to write won’t always come easy, but as long as you don’t pressure yourself into defeat by blasting past deadlines and having to rewrite a chapter or more several times you will be just fine. That motivation comes from within, and you should never worry about what others think about what you’re doing. Setting small obtainable goals is necessary no matter what phase of writing you are in. Preparation before you start writing the book will help motivate you and give you the confidence to take on some of those speed bumps. I feel like this simple question has spawned a novel, so to wrap up:

• Limit distractions- things happen, kids get sick, the dog needs out, the spouse wants to talk about their day. Live your life but make the effort to set aside time for writing and stick to it.
• Create focus - if you write on off days make the setting like work. Take a shower, get dressed, schedule a lunch time. Do whatever you need to focus on what you set out to accomplish that day.
• Daily/weekly/monthly goals - be realistic about your expectations and make them easily obtainable but stick to them. If you have no gauge to writing you will look back in ten years and wonder why it's taken so long to write. Word count is one good way to maintain focus of where you are in a book. Word count depends on the type of book you are writing, but it can create easy milestones of completion.
• Know when to take time off.
• Go in as prepared as you need to be to get started writing. You don't need to know who lives, who dies, and exactly how the story is going to end. Many things that you come up with while writing will likely change how your plot and characters progress and end up with the story. The key is to just have some ideas of how you are going to get from beginning to end and be willing to change or evolve as you work forward.