Looking for motivation

English: Motivational Saying (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Okay, first things first. I know I didn’t do a post last Friday, so my deepest apologies. The lack of activity was due to a combination of things – a late cancellation combined with a generally crappy day meant that things just got away from me and I wasn’t able to put something together. Fear not, though, I have things lined up for this Friday so it’s only a minor blip.

Aside from my general lack of blogging, though, today I was going to talk about motivation. I’ve been sick lately so finding the motivation to get out there and write has been more difficult than usual. Sure, the ideas are there, but the thought of actually opening that Word document and writing just hasn’t appealed.

My way of getting past this is, oddly enough, NaNo. Yes, I know that last week I said loud and clear that I wasn’t going to do NaNo this year as I wanted to get my WIP out of the way first. However, what I’ve decided to do is my own mini NaNo, in that rather than aiming for 50,000 words during November, I’m heading for 15,000. That’s 500 words a day, and if I get that done then I’ll be, if not finished, then very close to. I’m doing okay, too – today (in my part of the world) is the 5th of November, so that means I need to have 2500 words done by the end of today. Well, I’m not there yet, but it’s not yet midday so I’ve got time, and I’m over 2000 to start with. That means less than 500 words and I’m on track.

I know that personal NaNos don’t work for everyone, though, so I’ve come up with a few other methods that might help with motivation.

1. Carrots, as in carrot-and-stick methods. In this case, reward yourself. I’ve promised that I’ll get myself a manicure when the manuscript is finally done – or, at least, the first draft is. This isn’t necessarily because I’m huge fan of getting my nails done, but it feels like a good reward for my fingers, which are what has been doing the bulk of the work in typing this story out. In other words, set up a reward system for significant milestones, like some personal pampering, or a night out with friends, or a fancy lunch, or whatever. Not a huge reward (I don’t condone celebrating every chapter finish with a weekend away, for example), but something that fits the task at hand.

2. Sticks. This is punishing yourself if you don’t meet certain milestones. This doesn’t work nearly so well as people respond so much better to positive than negative rewards, but sometimes it just works to do it this way. This has worked for me in the past when I denied myself chocolate until I’d written 1000 words in a day. (This was especially effective when I had the chocolate just sitting there, looking at me, and I was forcing myself not to have it.) Stick methods are probably better for short term goals than long term ones, or at least they are for me.

3. Competition/social deadlines. This is where something like NaNo comes in, though it’s not necessary; it could be an agreement with a friend or something at your writers’ group. It’s where you agree to have a chapter finished by X date, or try to write more than someone else in  a given time. The widgets on the NaNo website are great because you can track your progress against that of a friend or even a region (averaged out), but really any sort of arrangement will work. The idea is that you will write, even if it’s rubbish, because someone else is relying on you to do it. There’s nothing like a bit of social guilt to make you get stuck into it.

You will notice that I’m employing a combination of (1) and (3) this month – the promise of a manicure to reward my fingers when the draft is finished, along with the pressure to meet a NaNoWriMo-like deadline. Only time will tell if I’m disciplined enough to do it, but if I don’t try I’ll never know.

So, what works best for you when you’re not feeling motivated? How do you make yourself write? Or do you just take a break and wait for the inspiration to come back again? I’d love to hear about it.

 

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NaNoWri-NO

 

Image: NaNoWriMo.org

 

That’s right. I’m not doing it.

This year, for the first time in three years, I’ve made the decision not to do NaNoWriMo.

It has nothing to do with dissatisfaction with the NaNo people or process. I’ve done it two Novembers in a row and won each time, though I admit I failed dismally at Camp NaNo this July. The thing is, though, that with my current story, I don’t have 50,o00 words left to write. Sure, I could write something else, but my priority at the moment is really to get this first draft finished. I’m already three months overdue and, with my new deadline being Christmas, I just want to get it over with.

I toyed with the idea of trying to finish it by the end of October and doing something completely different in November with NaNo. Unfortunately, I’ve been unwell and a number of other things have been coming back to bite me, and the time (and, frankly, inclination) just haven’t been there. I’m working my way through these final scenes and I’m getting there, but it’s a long, drawn out process. Perhaps if I was one of those people who writes in order it would be different, because I’d be building up to the dramatic end of the story, but I’m a non-linear writer and the end has been written since, well, two NaNos ago. No, what I’m doing now is doing a couple of sub-plots and some filler scenes that lead onto the next bit of drama. No wonder it’s taking me forever.

As such, I’m giving NaNo a miss this year. Instead, I’ll use November to (hopefully) kill off these last 15,000 or so words that need writing, and get this draft done once and for all. My character biographies are helping dramatically, I might add; that little writing exercise is clearly one that works really well for me. (Actually, there seem to be a lot of similarities between my writing habits and those of the lecturer in this course I’m doing, which is incredibly helpful.)  Then, once my draft is done I’ll take some time off over Christmas and attack it with the red editor’s pen in the new year, refreshed and, with any luck, able to look at it with a new set of eyes.

Then next November I’ll do NaNo again, with the next story. At least, that’s the plan as it stands now. Wish me luck! :)

 

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A-NaNo-ing we will go!

This week, I signed up for Camp NaNo.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Camp NaNo is an offshoot of NaNoWriMo, the (inter)National Novel Writing Month, which kicks off each November. The idea is that you write a novel in thirty days, with the target being 50,000 words.

Camp NaNo is much the same, only it’s in June and/or August. Again, they want you to write a novel from scratch during whichever month you choose to take part. As for me, well while I’m going to try my hardest to hit the 50K in June, I’ll be bending the rules somewhat. Instead of starting from scratch, I’ll be aiming to get 50,000 words written of my WIP. Currently my word count sits at about 62,000, so that will get me up above 110K, but then again with editing and the like I’m sure to drop that back to the 85K I’m aiming for for the final draft.

So, why am I doing it? The main reason is that my maternity leave is quickly running out, and my self-imposed deadline to get this story finished is when I go back to work at the start of August. I’m up for anything that will give me a boost in doing this (like the chapter-writing competition I spoke about the other week) so, when another writing buddy asked me if I was doing Camp NaNo, I said yes. I hadn’t even thought about it up to that point, but like I said, I might as well give it a go. I’ve had luck with NaNo in the two years I’ve done it, in that I’ve reached the 50K mark each time, so if I can get motivated each November to do that, then why not June?

NaNo works for me because there’s something really motivating about putting your word count in each day and seeing whether you’re on track or not, and I really strive to get above the red line and stay there. It’s the tracking process that I like. However, I’m aware that this doesn’t necessarily work for everyone so, on the off chance that I don’t get my word count up over June (and therefore get the novel so much closer to being finished), I’m asking what you do.

If you want to get inspired to do a lot of writing in a short time, how do you do it? Do you rely on external factors like I do (NaNo, writing contests with other writers), or are you able to find something from within? And how successful are you? I’d really love to know.

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