Keeping Motivation Motivated

How do I stay motivated? It’s a question many writers ask themselves. Inspiration hits and the motivation zings! The next thing we know we’re writing away. Then we stop. At some point life happens. You must go to work. You must eat delicious Girl Scout Cookies. You need to pour another cup of tea. You must go on a date with your husband. Your pug wants to play. There’s a new episode of your favorite Bravo reality show. At least, these are the things that happen to me.

I know there are many of life’s little distractions that steal away our focus as writers. My writing friends and fellow writers on social media often ask how to keep the motivation going? This was something I wondered when I started my wiring journey back in August 2022. How to stay motivated? How to not just have this be something I said I was doing but didn’t do?

There are a few tricks I’ve used to keep my motivation…well motivated. It’s worked for me and may work for you. The proof is in the cookies, though. Since August, I’ve written three manuscripts and have a fourth one started, so those are some well baked cookies! Although, my editor may have opinions on their taste. 😊

Here’s what I do. First, I write for an hour a day no matter what. Even when I had a vicious viral infection in December that I thought was the new plague (it wasn’t), I stayed committed to this. In August, I started this by sitting my timer to ensure I was doing it. I built it into my agenda for the day and even set a reminder on my phone. Before I knew it, it became habit. Even when I went on vacation, I stuck with this. I’d get up an hour earlier or stay up an hour later than my husband to get my writing in before or after our vacation antics. Even if I had NO idea what to write or struggled working on one sentence (these things happen) I wrote or edited what I had written for an hour.

The other trick I use is music. A song can pull me into a story. I have songs for each of my couples in my stories. Each song captures them as a couple or how one of them feels about the other. For example, for Finding Home Forrest Blakk’s “When you Love Her” and “I saw Love” capture the love story of Elle and Clayton so perfectly. Once you read it, I hope you agree. Forrest Blakk was played a lot during the writing of this steamy smalltown romance helping me not just tap into but go deeper into Elle and Clayton’s story. If Hollywood options this book as a film, I may have to sweet talk Mr. Blakk to do the soundtrack.

I pepper other songs in during the writing process to feed different scenes. If it’s a steamy/sexy scene I may use some sexier songs. If it’s an angsty breakup scene I go to my girl T-Swift. I even have songs for different locations and other characters in the book that help me stay linked to their elements so I can pull them out onto the page. You get the gist.

Another trick is to create an environment perfect for writing. Some people like quiet. Some like sitting at a computer. Some like sprawling on a bed. Some like lounging on a couch. Some like typing away at a busy coffeeshop. Whatever your writing kink, you need to set the scene! When I’m spending my hour (or plus) editing I tend to do it sitting at the desk in my office, but when its creative time I either sit in my checkered wingback chair in my bedroom, a pug sharing the ottoman with me, or use every pillow on my bed to bolster me and my laptop as I type away from my bed (very handy for inspiration of those steamier scenes).

The last and final thing that keeps me motivated are my characters. They have a story that needs to be told. If I lose my motivation then nobody will know their story, not even me. Connecting with my characters allows me to champion them by writing their story.

This is what works for me. It may or may not work for you as a writer. This is just one recipe. There are so many others out there that help storytellers create their stories. If this works for you or if you have other tricks of the trade, please let me know!

Pinkies up!