I love writing, I swear I do. But then why do I find myself, more often than not, doing anything but writing? It isn’t even that I’m stuck, because the muse seems to be interested in my work in progress and I have no shortage of ideas. It’s just that I don’t want to write. And I know I have to, because if one day I want to make a living out of it, then I’ll have to write a lot more than what I currently do and can’t always procrastinate.
Genuinely not having time to write is another thing, which I can forgive myself for. For example, as of the writing of this post, I’m neck deep in assignments and fundraising projects, so… no writing except for a few stolen moments. No, I’m talking about having all the time of the world to write, at last, and then… not doing it. What do you do then?
What do you do then?
I had to repeat it, because indeed, that is the question. I have read countless articles on the topic, and while most of them offer sound advice, things like ‘Same time, same place’, just won’t do for me. Life happens, and as much as one would like to say, ‘I’m so committed to my writing that the sky can fall but I’ll be at the same time, same place writing every day’. That sounds wonderful. But that’s not reality. Reality is one day I may have time, and the other, I may have homework to do, a blog post to write instead, or… whatever else. And these are not excuses. These are legit things that are also part of our lives.
So, I think I have it down to 3 things that actually work even for busy, and on top of that, procrastinating people.
Go to a bookstore
Nothing gets me with so much need to write like seeing other books published and displayed on shelves. If I go home right this instant and start writing, I’ll be that many words closer to seeing my book here with these.
I imagine myself strolling into the bookstore like a Queen, and picking up my book, casually flipping to the end page and, omg, what’s that? It’s *gasp* my picture there. I’m the author. I would then say loudly to my sister, “Look, I wish they hadn’t taken my photo from this angle”. Random person near would be like ‘OMG, she’s the author’.
I’m the author.
Listen to music while thinking of your story
Yes! Try to invoke the ‘visions’, as I call them. Visions are those blissful moments in your head where you let scenes from your story play out, as if it was a movie, and then feeling like you’ve just invented the light bulb.
Music is a good trigger for these visions.
Remind yourself that the world needs your story
Sometimes it’s not possible to go to the bookstore at a moment’s notice, or maybe music doesn’t spark anything, but you can do this, because this here is no trick, no illusion. This is a fact, and sometimes we forget it, and it’s good to remind yourself of it.
Your words matter, and even if there other books out there, similar to your idea, it’s still as important that you write because only you can write this story the way you do. You can change the world, one wonderful reader at a time; just like other books have changed you.
As a NaNoWriMo ML and also sporadic english teacher the ‘The world needs your novel’ motto has stuck with me and is my main source of motivation.
So, I’m not going to say, go write now. But I will say, keep writing because eventually you’ll get there 🙂
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Sometimes it’s just so hard to motivate ourselves to write, and / or to find the time to do so. I find your ideas so greatn, and listening to music always helps me imagine some scenes and put me in a writing spirit. I found that participating in NaNo worked wonders for my writing, it forced me to write every day and I loved it. I hope to find the time to do it again, writing takes a lot of discipline ahha 🙂 Lovely post!!
I was great about writing during NaNoWriMo, but without that external motivation I’m stuck. I tend to easily fall in and out of habits and I just need to FORCE myself to write for a few days to get myself back into that mode … or laziness takes over.
I’m a disaster even for NaNo. XD It’s the worse when for X reason you can’t write often and YES LAZINESS TAKES OVER and then you don’t want to write even though you finally have time. Right now, I mercifully have some motivation but I’m dreading the moment that motivation runs out again!
I have exactly the same problem! Sometimes I genuinely don’t have much time to write when I have a busy week (I definitely couldn’t manage a ‘same time every day’ routine seen as my shifts at work can range from being in at 6 in the morning, to only leaving at 9 at night – the joys of retail!), but a lot of the time I just don’t feel like it. I like your advice though, and I’ve definitely used music before to try and get me writing. Great post! 🙂
*high fives!* I know writing does require a certain degree of discipline but sometimes it’s just not possible. I do think that when we have time we should work harder at staying on track. Self-motivation is the only way! Thank you! :3 And how are you doing with your WIP?