5 Further Tips for Staying Motivated

By georgelthomas on 11 Jul 2018 • ( 0 )

Hi everyone, here’s another instalment of my tips for Staying Motivated series. I hope you find it useful.

1 – Push Through Writer’s Block
Writer’s block effects every writer from time to time and the best way to deal with it is by powering on regardless. This is easier said than done but when you don’t know where to go next, or the ideas just aren’t flowing don’t do the obvious thing and take a break until you feel in the zone again. You may never get there. Instead, switch your focus.
Try taking a scene from your favourite book or movie and write it in your own words or from a different character’s point of view. Try writing about what you’ve done so far today, or what you have planned for the rest of the day or the weekend. Whatever you do, take the focus off your main project, or whatever you’re feeling blocked with. The shift will allow your subconscious time to generate new, useful information and ideas, while you’ll still be writing, which is better than no writing at all.

2 – Use Writing Prompts
Writing prompts would be a good idea for getting through writer’s block too, so keep that in mind if you’re stuck. They are an excellent way to kickstart the creative process and get new and imaginative ideas flowing. A quick search on google will reward you with many great places to find writing prompts. There are some good ones here at Writer’s Digest and The Writer’s Academy to get you started. Prompts are an ideal way of practising and honing your writing skills and help to keep you writing.

3 – Affirmations
Tell yourself you are good enough. It’s no use waiting for someone else to tell you; you have to believe it yourself. After all, you can do anything you put your mind to. What you want in life is important, and if you want to write, you have to actually do it.
You may even want to consider sticking a post-it, or something similar with little motivational messages written on it somewhere that it will catch your eye while you’re working, just to give yourself a little bit of extra self-encouragement.

4 – Save Editing
Save all editing until you have finished your first draft. Editing as you go will only serve to slow you down. Write your draft, then edit. It will help with productivity and save you many possible hours of frustration because you won’t be wasting time trying to write the perfect first sentence or a great opening paragraph. Write first, then edit.

5 – Don’t fear the Words
Write your first draft without worrying about whether or not you are writing well or using the correct words. The chances are, you’re not -but that’s okay because it’s a first draft and it’s meant to be messy and unsophisticated. You’re just emptying your story onto the page at this point. Worry about words and sentence structure later, because worrying about it now will only distract you from your work. Tell your story first, and polish it later.

As always, thanks for reading, I appreciate your time.

Until next time,

George