We All Need a Motivation Technique At Some Point

All writers eventually need a motivation technique to spur them on to the finish line. They face the atrophy of motivation that seems to come with writing a long memoir over months and months and even over a period of time.

Let’s face it: writing can be hard and discouraging. The most interesting of topics (at least they seemed so at one time) may now grow stale and uninteresting as you write and rewrite (and ask yourself who would possibly want to read it). Writers rightfully want to k now what they can do to get back in the groove of production that had marked their earlier efforts.

One technique that seems to work (especially in combination with other efforts) is to bring the phase of your project that you are working on (and possibly postponing) to a close—whether that phase is the end of the book, a chapter, or a scene. When you experience your production resulting in completion—especially if you print your text and place it in a three-ring binder for you to read (and admire!), you may well feel elated as you realize that is “adding up.” Who wants to be stuck in an endless project?

If too many pieces remain unfinished, you may feel dispirited as you contemplate all that must be researched, thought through, written and rewritten before you are finished. The finish line seems too far off in the distance.

One problem with unfinished work is often that you have lost the train of inspiration. you may no longer remember what it was you felt was so important about a specific memory.  Now not only do you have text to write, but you must recapture the flow of your writing.

Action Steps

• researching,
• writing the first draft,
• adding images and metaphors, or
• polishing the draft.