Motivation is a hard thing to come by I am finding, especially with writing. I am forcing myself to sit down each day, open up my current WIP or my current short story and just type something at least, but it doesn’t feel as good as it has done in the past.
The last time I felt really really good about my writing was NaNoWriMo last year. The proper one, not any of the camps (although Camp was okay I didn’t get the same good feeling from it). I was doing 6K plus easy, every day during that month. And now whenever I try and write something and only get 500 words or so, I always think back to that month and feel that I could be doing better, and that I know I am capable of better.
Although having said that I actually had a really good day yesterday. I’m working on the 5,000 words short for a fantasy competition, and I’m writing about dragons (you would think the subject matter would be enough to motivate me into hyper speeds, but apparently not). So I had it open, then decided to go and check on the progress for the competition that I have already entered, and there was something about it that just clicked with me and I got so excited about the competition and the potential for hearing the results (and I don’t even have a date for the results announcements) and that just translated itself into writing enthusiasm and I kicked out like 1,500 words and finished the first draft of the short. Needs editing, but I actually finished the short.
But what I guess I’m getting at is that I am really feeling the thing which I think most writers have been through – inspiration doesn’t just happen. You really do have to sit down, chain your butt to your chair, your fingers to your keyboard and just write words. You can make it good later, for now, just getting it onto paper is the important bit.
In this light, there’s a motivational poster I found that I’d like to share, which I think epitomises this.
Princess of Dragons 
I have the same problem when writing as well. Great poster though. 🙂
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Things are different as you go through life. You change relationships, you change jobs, your family grows or contracts, you get new interests, you leave past interests. In short, you don’t always have the same open time and undivided attention. As you said, you just do the best you can with every day.
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You know how they say, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”? Personally, I find that to be a load of tosh when it comes to ones you love, but in a way it is true (at least for me) when it comes to writing. Motivation can’t always be at an absolute high, and when it’s so low that you don’t feel like doing it, just don’t. Take a break for a few days, as counter-intuitive as that sounds. When I do that, I catch myself thinking more and more about what’s going on in my story “while I’m away”. The motivation builds up again, and when I do get back after a few days, ideas are bubbling and that inner fire is burning again. Obviously I’m not recommending doing that too often, or lightly – but when you feel a little burned out from too much writing, it can help.
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I can see where you’re coming from and strangely it comes from trying too hard. I like the comment from Amos. He has described in broad terms what I do with my short stories and my novels. I do the ‘leave it alone to stew’ sort of thing several times to make sure I give the piece of writing the best chance it can have to be improved.
In your case I think you are most definitely a ‘try too hard’ person. Here’s an idea I suggested to somebody a few months ago when they had motivation issues.
Look at your bookshelf titles, fiction not reference. Pick a title at random and try to write something that would relate to that title, but don’t concentrate on the original story; make up your own.
I’m looking forward to following this theme sequence of yours.
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I think every writer has felt like that at some point. I can churn out 3000 words a day for a week, and then struggle to write 400. When I have those periods, I push through them. Sometimes I take a walk and let the scene play out over and over. Sometimes I pretend I’m another character in the scene than the POV character. Sometimes I work on something else and come back to the original piece after a few nights. There are times when the time away brings a new perspective, but there are just as many times where that doesn’t happen and I need to push through, even if it is only 200 words a day. I remind myself it’s 200 words I didn’t have the day before =). Congrats on your perseverance and finishing your short! Hope it’s everything you want it to be and good luck!
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