How to feel motivated to write

Hello everybody, today lets talk writing motivation. Sometimes writer's block isn’t the only reason for us to not write. Now many people have different takes on writer's block. On whether or not it's real. But whatever it is, it’s a problem tons of writers face. And that’s something I’ve already written a post about. Click here to check it out.

But today we are talking about motivation. It really isn’t possible to always remain motivated throughout the entire writing process. Writing a book is hard work. And it's also going to take a long time. But you can push through one or two days of not being motivated. Sometimes this can last for months, which you don’t want. You want to enjoy writing your book. But before we get started with the tips, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter. You’ll receive some amazing writing templates to plan your story or flush out some details of your past planning. Subscribe and grab them. And I’ll be sending out a monthly newsletter with writing tips and all of that stuff. And now let’s get into it.

1. Figure out the why

This may not seem important, but to get motivated again you need to figure out the why. Why do you feel so unmotivated? For me, it's usually because I think my writing isn’t good enough and that I’m not good enough. It could be the same for you. Or it could be something else entirely. Talk to other writers. Maybe that could help. Often it all starts from self doubt. And that is a topic for a whole other day. I think you trying to understand why you feel unmotivated will help you get your motivation back. There are a few other tips on this list that can work on itself. But sometimes finding the problem is better than avoiding it.

2. Pinterest and spotify

You’ve probably heard this one all the time when people talk about motivation. But that’s probably because it works so well. At least for me it does. Creating a Pinterest board for my wip and adding pins to it is amazing. You can add pictures of actors for face claims. Or just random face claims you find. You can even find character art if any match your character. But remember that you don’t own any of this. It's probably not a good idea for you to post all of this on social media or anything. And if you want to create character aesthetics, you can totally use Pinterest pins, but if you intend to post them it’s a good idea to use pictures from sites like pexels and unsplash.

Now playlists are absolutely amazing. You can have one with only background music. With that, you can picture a scene from your book as a movie and have that to be the soundtrack. It’s a great way to get exited about your book. You can have songs that encompass the themes and the characters' feelings or simply songs that get you exited. You can also share your playlist on social media.

Playlists and Pinterest boards get me so exited about my story and they just really make me want to jump into writing it again. It may work for you too.

3. Have someone to hype you up

Another thing you can do for motivation is have someone get exited about your book. If you don’t want to share it with anyone in your life, then you can find someone online. Beta readers, if you are ready for it. You can also get alpha readers if you want to. If you don’t know what alpha readers are, they are the ones who read your book when it's in a rough draft. Beta readers come when you’ve edited as much as you can and toward the later stage of writing. Get someone who you can get exited about your story with. You can also share snippets of your story online (but be careful about how much you do and don’t share) then you can share Pinterest boards and playlists with them too.

Not everyone needs this. But it is something you can try out.

4. Push through it

You probably don’t want to hear this, but hear me out. It's harsh, but sometime you need to push through it. Motivation won’t always come to you. Like I said before, writing a book takes time and you aren't always going to be motivated. Do not rely on the muse. Rely on your brain. If you aren’t motivated, sit down and open your document. Start writing. One thing you can do is open another document and write it there. If it isn’t good, you can just build on it. Or you can copy paste it into the rest of your book.

Like I said, you cannot always rely on the muse to come to you. I don’t mean you need to force inspiration on yourself. If you are never inspired to write it's probably a problem. You may not love the wip anymore, but that’s a topic for another day. All I’m saying is that inspiration won’t just strike you when you want it to. Make yourself write. You can do it.

5. Take a break

I know the previous point was me telling you to push through. Now I’m telling you to take a break. But this doesn’t mean you always take a break. I’m telling you to take a break if there’s an actual problem. Some physical, mental or emotional health issues. Take a break. Don’t push yourself if you know you have a valid reason for not writing. Not “I want to watch some Netflix” or anything like that. I mean, if you're having a hard time and you're feeling low, do not push yourself. Breaks are great. As much as I think you need to push past those rough patches, sometimes you just can’t. sometimes it’ll make things worse. So take some time off for yourself and who knows, when you feel better, our writing may just be so much better.

6. Set goals… or maybe don’t

Set goals, guys. I know setting goals has a bad rep sometimes. But it's not as bad as you think. A writing schedule can be a great tool to help with setbacks like feeling less motivated. Why is that, you ask? Well, it's because you have a reliable schedule to follow. Don’t take my word for it, try it out. It doesn’t have to be detailed. It can be as vague as you want. Anyway, super detailed schedules won’t always work out in your favour. Why? You can’t predict everything that’s going to happen in a day. Some days may go well, and some days won’t go so well. But you should check out my post on creating a writing schedule that will work for you. There I’ll teach you how you can create a schedule that doesn’t tire you and instead provides more free time and enables you to be more productive. Also, check out my post on setting and achieving your goals. It can apply to anything, and it isn't just limited to writing.

7. Stop procrastinating

This has to be one of the most obvious yet productive things. Get off Instagram and write. Take a break from social media and write. Making aesthetics is great writing motivation and so is music playlists… unless they’re not. Are you using these things to distract yourself from doing the actual writing? I thought so. Maybe it’s time for you to get off all of it and write. Sometimes the idea of actually writing is a little scary. We all know that our book will not write itself. Write it.

Now social media probably isn’t the only way you procrastinate. I want you to eliminate all distractions from your workspace. Next time you sit to write and you don’t actually write, I want you to look out for what you do instead. Now take that away. Apps like forest or focus plant can also lock your phone in one screen so you don’t get distracted by other apps.

Alright, those are my seven tips for writing motivation. But remember that what I said, no matter what you do, you’ll have days where you simply need to push through. That seems like a daunting task, but you can do it. Don’t give up. Unless you have to, but that’s a topic for a different day.

Don’t forget to like and share! Also comment down below and let me know what you do for writing motivation. If you haven’t already subscribed, be sure to do so for my writing templates and updates every time I post. I post on here every Monday, so stay tuned and happy writing!