If you are a writer by day (or if you work in any kind of profession that requires your brain power Monday through Friday) it can sometimes be hard to find the motivation or the time to knock out your short story, poem, or the next chapter of your novel. Heck it can even be hard to find time to write a tiny little ole blog post.
So today I'm going to give myself some ideas for getting it done. Some of these have been proven to work for me, and some of them have yet to be tested. Here's what I've got:
- Make a cup of chai. It seems to have the power to rev up a completely dead writing brain.
- Drink some wine. Alcohol can make me relaxed enough to churn something out. Too much, however, and I've got a blubbering mess.
- Get out a timer. Saying "ok, just spend 10 minutes writing something" is doable right?
- Make a schedule. Maybe if I decided I wanted to be done with my project by a certain date, I could backtrack and keep myself in check?
- Take a nap. Sometimes it's better to just not do anything. Because paradoxically it can make you do something when you wake up.
- Write about nothing. Like I'm sorta doing right now. Maybe someone will find this post interesting, or maybe they won't. But hey, I'm writing.
- Carve out some unconventional time. I don't usually write on Saturdays, for instance. But maybe if I'm home I just ought to try.
- Pet a cat. It's another distraction. Distractions can be good...or bad. It's worth a try.
- Look at your bank account. Even if only one person buys your stuff, the prospect of having some income someday for your work should be motivating, right?
- Make a public declaration of your goal. If you say to the world that you're going to do something by a certain time, well by golly it's suddenly quite shameful if you don't.
And if that fails I'll look at my bank account. Viewing my checking account balance usually has me writing before I can even log out.
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