>>> Item number 36446 from WRITERS LOG9409A --- (108 records) ---- <<< Date: Wed, 7 Sep 1994 18:35:01 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: TECH: Motivation... hi, debra (0006166636@MCIMAIL.COM (Debra Anderson)) - I've been mostly lurking for a couple of weeks now and can't help - noticing how prolific many of you are. I'm interested in ways that - others stay motivated to keep on writing. I find that without the - pressure of a deadline -- whether from a workshop, a class, or a - writer's group -- that I tend to slack off completely. In other words, I - need external motivation. Is this true for any others out there -- or is - it only me? -- and what tips can you offer on getting motivated from - within? quick scattered thoughts... Number one, if you want a deadline, we'll give you one. Let's see. How about Sept. 15? All right, get to work! As for motivation... I'm not sure I know the best way, but here are a few tricks. As others have suggested, make it a habit. Same time, plan to do about the same amount of work (start small, then up it as you get used to it, and don't let a temporary layoff stop you--get back into the habit as soon as possible). Set yourself a "process" goal--X words, scenes, whatever you feel comfortable with--and work against that. I find promising myself so much each day or week to be fairly effective. However, if you like external deadlines or goals--why not tell us when and what you are going to provide to the group? I promise we'll heckle you when the deadline is coming... (whee! this could be fun!) Some people seem to prefer having finite deadlines--make their outlines, then assign deadlines for each part, and work against those. I do better with so much each day, and let the pieces fall where they may, but do whichever one makes sense to you. When I start a project, there's a lengthy period where I feel a little as if I had just started blowing up a balloon. Whoosh, whoosh as hard as I want, and nothing happens! Very frustrating, but experience shows two things. First, I can stop blowing for a moment to stretch and pull at the balloon, loosening it up. This often makes it much easier to blow up. Second, if I keep going, there's a sudden relaxation of whatever was holding it and there she goes... In the same way, starting a writing project can feel the same. Notes, bits and pieces, lots of blank pages (or screens), and the feeling of getting nowhere. But keep pushing, or do a few loosening up exercises, and then look at the balloon swelling up... Somewhere after the first notes and before it all gets tidied up, there's often a point where I am so frustrated and angry at the piece that I am ready to throw it away and go take up bricklaying or something I can understand. Couple of different options here. One is to lay it aside and relax for a little bit, then come back to it. Read some of the junk that has been printed (I keep a couple real trash novels around as inspiration--if this kind of trash can be printed, I'm not so bad!). Usually NOT a good idea to really work on something else, although you can do some "light writing" or other setup work. Two is to keep on going, work on some of the unwritten parts, etc. Try to avoid going back and rewriting everything at this point, because you don't want to trash the thing until you're feeling better and can look at it semi-objectively. Finally, I often "finish" it...and don't really like it. I'm quite hard on myself, and the "finished" pieces usually don't feel really done to me. This is one that the list can (and does) help with--toss it out here, and see how other people react. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that they like the piece, even if you aren't so sure about it. This last one is a pain. I've halfway learned to go ahead and post things here, even if I don't think it is too good. I've even learned to go ahead and start rolling it through the markets, even if I'm not sure about it. This doesn't mean that I don't polish it as well as I can, and take the opportunity to revise it again sometimes when it comes back, but I've given up on holding onto each piece until I am absolutely sure it is the Great American short story, novel, poem, etc. I'll settle for a reasonable facsimile of a short, dumpy, middle-aged white male short story, novel, poem, etc. I guess what I see is that like the process of motivating a group to work on a project (which I have a great deal of experience with), part of the key is that you need multiple motivations. There has to be an overall dream or vision, along with the goals and hopes and fears of what it would be like to finish the project. But you also break it into little steps, with weekly checkups and reviews, daily inchpebbles, and pat yourself on the back as you get to each waymarker. Take a moment to look around and realize that that last step has put you at the top of a foothill (perhaps) and to look at where you are now, where you started, and where you are going (again). Then (deep breath) forward ho! one more step in the unending march... BTW, when we're doing a project, part of the deal is getting everyone to "buy into" the schedule, deadlines, etc. and then making that public. All the fun of tracking our progress and reminding people of what's coming and what they've missed, along with working out how to revise as the situation changes--it's all part of motivating the project. Hey, if promising yourself a candybar at the end of each chapter works--do it! Whatever. Just... Keep on writing! tink