I read this thing in The Writer magazine, 20 ways to get instant writing motivation. It's been very helpful for me, so I thought I'd share it with my fellow writers. I will put my 10 favorites here, and paraphrase.
1. Exercise
This stimulates brain chemicals to do all sorts of great things for your psyche, putting you in a better mood and helping you think more clearly.
2. Pretend You're Finished
Imagine what it will be like when you're entirely finished with whatever you're working on. Let yourself feel that satisfaction, so that you can strive for it. You can use this tactic to help you get enthused about your writing, and then use that enthusiasm TO WRITE.
3. Track Your Word Counts
This is probably the best one for me. Track your word count every day, even if it's a sad zero. It's a sure way of bringing your writing to the front of your brain every day, and it's also a great way to try for personal records.
4. Converse
Find someone that will listen to you blather away about your current project. Someone who is genuinely interested and can provide moral support, toss out some ideas, and suggest new perspectives. And of course, help you get ENTHUSED about your writing.
5. Bypass the Mental Debate
I always, always find a way to talk myself out of writing. Instead of saying "I'm too tired to write" go directly to "Where did I leave off last time?" Don't even deliberate your circumstances. Just write.
6. Revisit Your Reasons
Why did you start this story in the first place? Try to get back that initial excitement you had about your story. It definitely fades over time (at least for me), and revisiting your reasons for starting in the first place can propel your story forward and also give you a more clear sense of where you want it to go.
7. Write About Writing
Write about why you don't feel like writing. Write about why you haven't written at all in the past week. Write about why you think you aren't satisfied with your work as of late. Writing about it can help sort things out and clear your mind. (It also gets you writing!)
8. Go Somewhere Else
Somewhere with no distractions. For me, this means no internet. Lucky for me, my town library doesn't have wifi. When I go there to write, I always walk out feeling accomplished. Get rid of the external distractions (YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE), so that you can focus solely on writing.
9. Choose a First Step
If you have a ton of ideas written down and all these things you want to do, it can get overwhelming. It's like, you have a million things to do, you don't know where to start, so you just don't start at all. Right? Focus on ONE thing, do that first, and then go from there.
10. Skip Ahead
If there's a scene you're having trouble writing, just skip it and go on to the next. You can always come back to it later. You'll make more progress that way, and you may even work out something better for the difficult section.
There you have it. Motivation is probably my biggest obstacle when it comes to writing (or anything really). So I just found this really helpful and wanted to make a journal about it I guess. :3
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