Published by Deborah on 19 Oct 2005 at 11:22 am
Writing When You Have No Motivation
I’ve been trying to post everyday on this blog, regardless of whether or not I have anything interesting to say. Today is one of those sluggish days where I’m trying to jumpstart my brain into producing something coherent. Perhaps it’s the cold I’m still trying to fight off, or the overcast sky and the chilly weather that is doing its best to lull me to sleep.
Its days like this when I have to use my alternative plan. Whenever I find myself blocked (for whatever reason), I grab a pad of paper and a pen. Somehow the physical act of writing words on a piece of paper helps spark my motivation. What methods do you use when you feel like you have nothing left?
Update: I’ve handwritten 10 pages! Of course, I’ll hack them up when I type them into Word, but for now I’m satisfied.
Chris Howard on 19 Oct 2005 at 8:47 pm #
That’s when I flip through my journal. I go back and read bits of character description, interesting words I’ve jotted down, pieces of dreams that I scrawled in the middle of the night–and have trouble reading six months later. I write down everything, weird combinations of words. If I go back far enough, I can’t remember why or when I wrote most of it, but when I need some inspiration, the journal helps.
Karen Lee Field on 20 Oct 2005 at 3:51 am #
Today I returned to work after two days of sick with the flu. I had to push myself to the limit, and as a result I feel exhausted. I don’t feel like writing now and won’t push myself any more today.
Sometimes, it’s better to let the body rest, Deborah. So don’t feel bad about your lack of enthusiasm.
ME Strauss on 20 Oct 2005 at 4:13 am #
Hi Deborah,
I started blogging so that I would have something that would be a tangible reason for be to keep to the writer’s discipline of writing everyday. For some reason, I don’t find it as easy to do or as much fun if I’m not tied to some sort of deadline. Maybe it’s too many years in publishing and I’m too much related to Pavlov’s dogs.
In any case, whenever I don’t feel like writing I too pick up a pencil. I also pick up a pencil whenever I have to wait for my computer to do something like defrag, or scan for viruses, or all of those other sit around tasks.
I also do what Chris does–look through my journal–and look through other books I know talk to me. Sometimes I pull up a really gorgeous photo and just stare at it until my mind lets go of things and I get out of the way of my subconscious.
Lee Carlon on 20 Oct 2005 at 7:27 am #
I usually tell myself to write the next line of whatever I’m working on, and that usually leads to more.
Deborah on 20 Oct 2005 at 12:05 pm #
Chris: I started one writing journal and a dream journal, but I haven’t written anything in them for years. Perhaps I should go dig them up.
Karen: Thanks for your support.
I’m having a better day today, coldwise.
Liz: I started blogging for the same reason. There’s something about that calendar that makes me want to fill it. Blogs are also a great way to hone your writing skills and meet other writers.
Lee: I’ve given myself many a peptalk over the years. Most of the time it works.
Thanks for all of your suggestions, everyone.
I forgot to mention that music sometimes helps jog me out of a block.
Melly on 21 Oct 2005 at 3:36 am #
That’s a toughy.
I guess I resort to different things depending on my mood. Anything from doing revisions to writing forcefully (usually crap that leads to something).
Deborah on 21 Oct 2005 at 6:51 am #
Sometimes, I decide to read the stuff I’ve written. More often than not, this leads to heavy revision.
Lee Pletzers on 22 Oct 2005 at 7:26 am #
I just keep at it, knowing that I can fix it in the edit.
People say take a break, go for a walk or something, but not me, I just keep hitting the keys. Often, the flow will start by itself if I’m at it long enough.
Deborah on 22 Oct 2005 at 9:27 am #
Most of the time, I have something to show for my time spent at the computer. There have been many days, however, where the only thing I can produce is daydreams. I give myself three to four hours to write something, if nothing comes, I’ll either grab my pad of paper or go do something around the house.