Welcome back everyone! I hope the week has treated you all well so far. We're halfway through, but that doesn't mean anything bad. I'm glad you were able to make it back here today and I'm hoping that you're telling all the people that you know and love that I'm back up and running too!
We've talked before on how there are different ways to get yourself motivated to write and how each of those methods do actually work, it just depends on the individuals that use them. Sometimes the idea o a self-imposed deadline is absolutely terrifying and that, not the task of writing out a novel is what actually causes someone to not complete their work. Since I've needed to kick myself back into gear, we're going to take another look at different forms of motivation today.
I'm sure I've stated it before, but making writing a habit is one way that, in my opinion, works incredibly well. Humans like habits and repetition as a nature, so finding somewhere to slip some writing into the mix does help some people when it comes to actually getting something done. I know that a lot of people have ridiculously busy schedules though, so finding time to do that is a possible problem. Also, the amount of time it takes to get a good solid habit to form is roughly 45 days (I believe that is the right number, if it's not, it's close to it), which means that it will take nearly a month and a half of putting effort into it before it'll feel like a normal part of your routine. That means until that happens you must constantly remind yourself of what you're doing, when you need to do it, and how you're going to do it.
I mentioned above that sometimes giving yourself a deadline is a huge double-edged sword. There are some people out there that love mini-deadlines, and they give themselves one for pretty much everything they do. That's great for them if they can actually pull it off. There are others that find deadlines terrifying, looming monsters that suck away all their motivation. The best way to handle this, if this happens to you, is to simply not give yourself a deadline at all. Say you'll finish whenever you want to and be free to decide when you start, when you take breaks, and when you'll finish. Some authors take years upon years to finish a book, which while that may drive some avid fans/readers up a wall, the ending result is a higher quality than if they had rushed through everything just to meet a deadline. It also causes less stress for the author as well, since they don't have to worry about the feeling of self-imposed failure if they don't manage to reach that deadline. (NOTE: Estimates on how long something will take to do is NOT a self-imposed deadline. Saying 'by the looks of things I should be done by X day,' is much different from saying 'I need to be done by X day, then I will move onto the first draft editing on day X, at which point I'll re-read everything three times by X day, and finally do two more rounds of editing, to be finished by X,' so please do not misunderstand.)
As I said before, the most important thing to do is make sure that your writing is something that you love and enjoy. I've heard a lot of people say that they want to write a book simply for the idea of saying that they did so, and then they sit down and get ready to actually do the task and nothing happens because frankly they hadn't been prepared for the amount of work and dedication necessary to actually write a book. This is a labor of love, patience, and also confidence, and if you aren't prepared for what's necessary to do that then, if you really do want to write a novel, the first step is always the most difficult to take: start doing it. Writing is hard, I don't know who or if anyone ever said it was easy, but if they did they are a robot or lying. It's something that you have decided to do with your life, and that's just it; it's your life. Writing a book isn't something that happens say, over the summer and then everything is perfect and awesome. Writing a book (or books) is something that takes years of commitment and the most important thing is to be ready to face that commitment head out and jump into it. You'll be incredibly happy that you did.
Thanks everyone for stopping by again today. As a reminder, you can get 'The Light Rises' for 50% by using the coupon WC65W, so please tell everyone about it! I'll be back here again on Friday so please stop by then too and have a great rest of your week!
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