Writing isn't a team sport. Other writers don't come up — like athletes — slap us on the butt and say, "Way to go!" (Which is probably a good thing.) We are in charge of keeping ourselves motivated. Since I've been writing for quite a while, I have come up with quite a few ways to keep myself motivated. Here are my top 10.
1. Read something inspirational each day. Today's was "When you lead a big, full life, it's idiotic to think that your missteps are gonna be small. And to me that's a risk worth taking." Oprah Winfrey.
2. Try something new. What you learn can both improve your stories and inspire you. I'm taking a bookmaking class, which at the very least is demonstrating how much better I am at writing than bookmaking.
3. Celebrate every step. My motto has always been "Don't waste good excitement". Heck, five rejection letters are worth a celebration — that means you're marketing and getting your stuff out there.
4. Keep a journal of all the positive steps you've made. Read it over when you're down. My writer's group kept one of these. It was pretty amazing to see what progress we'd made over the years.
5. Find someplace fun to write. Sure, you can take your laptop to a coffee shop, but what about taking your paper and pen to the beach, a little bed and breakfast, or a nice spot in the woods?
6. Do what research you can do in person versus over the internet. Talk to people, get out and check out new locations. It's fun!
7. Surround yourself with enthusiastic people that want to see you succeed. Don't limit yourself to a writers group.
8. Visualize your success and don't worry about the failures. I read that athletes who visualize perfect performances also improved their performances. So start thinking of cool stuff.
9. Teach. Giving back and tapping into the excitement of others does wonders for the psyche.
10. Read fabulous works. You not only find inspiration, but you can get an good education at the same time.
Wow, this was kind of inspiring just writing this. I'm off to my story.
di
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1 comments:
So true. If we don't make deposits in our bank of life, there is nothing to draw from when we sit ourselves down to write.
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