I've always wanted to write... Yeah, I know, everybody says that, but I've always had things bouncing around in my brain that I've sworn I'd put down on paper and yet I never do. I have little ideas on little bits of paper, in journals, on my computer... and yet to actually sit down and write it out, I just don't do it and I don't know why. My husband is very supportive and I keep telling him, "someday", but I'm beginning to wonder. I find and use every excuse in the book to not put words onto paper and I'm getting discouraged before I get started!
Writers - I don't know if you've ever run across anyone quite like me in this regard, but how do you motivate yourself to write? Thanks in advance for any help!
The best motivations for me have either been deadlines or money. The trick is seeing them when no one else is forcing them upon you! And if you have a big project in mind, like (gulp!) a novel, the size of the project can be overwhelming enough to push it to "someday". So remember the old joke: Q: How do you eat an entire elephant? A: One bite at a time.
Make a project calendar and break the project down into daily or weekly chunks. What do you want to write about? One week. What research do I need to do before I start writing? Two weeks. How long will it take me to write the first draft of 100,000 words? Well, if I write an average of X words per hour and I can devote X hours per day per week, that equals Y weeks. Don't forget to allow for revisions and copy editing at the end. And then you'll have your time budget: one novel, 10 months (or whatever).
OF COURSE the budget will change over time. Life will happen, a vacation will be taken, an emergency will arise, some aspect will be harder than you thought, etc. But the more you say the goal to yourself (and others: sometimes public embarrassment is a great motivator too!) and compare today's progress against the timeline, the more likely it will be to happen.
My deadlines have slipped on my most of my projects, and I'm not exactly tackling novel-size projects! But I'll be signing my eighth book, Haiku for Christmas, at ABFAS on December 13 and 14. Not bad for two years work. Come by and say hi! And check out this web interview with J.A. Jance, who should know a stitch or two about cranking out books with a crazy life!
I use some of what he talks about - deadlines are grand.
Essentially, writers write. It really is that easy, although you may need to find internal permission first. I wrote when I was young, but then I became a mom, and I stopped. Oh, I journaled, and I wrote about wanting to write. I bet I wrote a whole novel's worth of words about wanting to write and not having time-room-whatever.
And then my son turned 18 and I went back to school and took a writing class (I already had another degree, but I went to the local junior college and took a night class). And then writing was homework, and while I didn't have internal permission to write when there was houework to do or work work to do or bills to pay, I DID have internal permission to do homework. It ws kind of like turning on a spigot. I now have four novels sold (three already published), and twenty or thirty short stories published.
So there are a lot of tricks, but it sounds to me like you may be blocking yourself. I did that to myself for years. I suspect whatever you are using to stop yourself is your own demon, and probably different than mine were, but you might try a class or a workshop or a bet with a friend or joining a writing group.
Brenda Cooper, who will be at A BOOK FOR ALL SEASONS this coming weekend! Come on by if you like.
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Brenda Cooper
brenda-cooper@sff.net
www.brenda-cooper.com
To both Brenda and David, Thanks for the great advice... Brenda, I'm quite sure I have quite a few of those nasty little personal demons and yes, I'm sure I unconsciously invoke them in a fit of self-sabotage each time I move even close to my computer to write.I think a class or a group might be a good idea.
David - some great guidance.I also loved the J.A.Jance interview, thanks for that link. What was it that she said?An author is someone who has written something TODAY!Nice encouragement.
Though I know that everyone is different and my style and reasons for procrastination are different from everyone else, it's good for me to hear other author success stories, points of view, and tips for motivation.I have great respect for authors and the process because I know that it can be a laborious one (and yet enjoyable at the same time, otherwise, why do it, right?), but even as an intelligent, thinking woman, I keep allowing thislittle gremlin in my mind to convince me that it must be much easier for everyone else than it would be for me.I'm too busy, I should be doing other things instead (that pay!), I don't want to put up with the rejection, I have too much going on in my life right now... should I even bother going on or could you guess all of the rest?But then I get great advice from folks like you or from the JA Jance link, where she says she wrote in the 2 hours in the mornings before selling insurance, and my gremlin begins to shrivel. Thanks again to both of you, and all the best at your ABFAS signings!
I have heard it said that the best predictors of a author's success are not all the things we think of as comprising talent, but just these two things:
* perseverence; * the ability to handle criticism.
So just stick to your guns, and write, write, write!
I'm going to play devil's advocate and ask -- what makes you think you DO want to write, if you're not doing it? Or to put the question another way, why would you want to? To capture a story to share with others? To express yourself in ways you otherwise can't? To sell a book? Writing is a tough, tough business, and I'd say you have to really enjoy the process itself, or don't bother -- find an activity you DO enjoy instead. I would have never kept at it long enough to be published if I didn't just plain enjoy writing -- I can't help it; I'd be doing it even if I'd never been published.
That said, it sounds to me like the issue might be a fear of one sort or another. I know a lot of people who think they want to write, and some who do, but fear of failure keeps them from starting or finishing work (or both), because then that writing dream can always be a "what if" instead of facing any actual struggle or rejection.
At any rate, a class is an excellent idea, because then you'd have sort of a tour guide in the instructor, people to help shoulder the hard, scary parts, deadlines, permissions, bite-sized assignments to get you started... also, you might check out Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way or a book called Fearless Creating by Eric Maisel. They're both good for talking yourself past any demons and into actually doing the work you want to do.
Joni - anyone who thinks to play Devil's Advocate to find a solution is right up my alley... are you sure we aren't related? Between my Dad and me playing Devil's advocate against each other all of the time, we used to drive my Mom insane! Anyway, I haven't been ignoring your response, I've been dealing with a few obligations I've had come up lately. Nevertheless, it has given me time to think about the questions that you posed in a bit more detail and the more I think of it, the more I come back to my first answer - the one I started to write to you the first day that you posted. Your question to me was 'What makes you think I DO want to write, if I'm not doing it or why do I want to?' and the answer is simply because I feel this something I need to do... I awake almost every morning (or even in the middle of the night) with my mind full of stories from the night before. Plot twists, exciting tales, strange characters... I spend my days looking and watching people and thinking about what makes them unique and how their stories could be told. For instance, I see a family in a restaurant dining with an elderly man and I wonder about his connection, why does the man look so sad? Why are the children behaving the way they are and does the woman seem so angry? What decisions brought their lives to this point? I think of my own life and of the lives of my family - all of the unique things that have happened to us - each funny moment or memory tucked away for some future story...
I can't seem to stop my mind, it's always turning... I've often thought over the years that I just think too much or perhaps I'm just too empathetic, but I've finally come to truly feel that writing is my outlet, I just can't seem to get it out of the initial stages.
I do write - I think you're dead on though when you and others have mentioned fear. Whether it has been writing or any other creative art in which I've participated, I have never felt comfortable letting others see my work so Biscuit is right about "the ability to handle criticism". I can handle criticism about my job or my daily life, but my art... my writing... something so close to my heart? I think this will take a tougher skin than I currently have. I guess I'll have to work on that! I guess writers' groups or a class will be a good place to start! Thanks for the great advice!
Hi! What a great question! And the answer I had to it was really great... too bad I lost it in the ether net by accidentally hitting some wrong key on my keyboard. Sooo, trying again. You received some great answers on how to get motivated. As a working author, deadlines and money have now become pretty big motivations for me. But, even before I was published (about a million years ago!) I wrote simply because I enjoyed it. Writing is work, but it should be fun, too. I think, sometimes, when we have trouble motivating ourselves as writers it's because the fun has gone out of the writing. Or it's because we are afraid of failure - and fear can sure take the fun out of writing, can't it?! So, if you're having trouble motivating yourself maybe it's because you're uncertain and afraid and simply not having a good time. Try to pretend you're sitting around the campfire with friends and entertaining them with a good tale. Budget in some story-telling time for yourself and then sit down and play what if? Sometimes writers hesitate to dip a toe in the writing waters because they don't know how to swim. If you're not sure just how to go about putting down those novel ideas, you might pick up a copy of Christopher Vogler's "The Writer's Journey" - a must-have for all writers, in my opinion. Good luck with the writing! Sheila Roberts
