Writing isn’t a linear process. You can’t just sit down, open your laptop, and start writing like it’s going to be published online tomorrow. It takes work. It takes dedication. And it takes a lot of motivation.
How many times have you started the writing process but then found yourself procrastinating? Do you lose steam halfway through a writing project?
When you start procrastinating, it usually means that you’re feeling overwhelmed or unmotivated. Maybe it’s because you don’t know where to begin. It’s not enough to simply write–you have to find a reason to keep going.
If you’re struggling to motivate yourself to write, don’t worry–all writers experience that. Even the best writers can lose momentum and their writing groove due to poor writing time, personal life, or running low on ideas. This article will share with you practical advice on how to boost your motivation, defeat writer’s block, and improve your writing.
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Why Your Writing Motivation Matters
Motivation is the engine that drives our actions and behaviors. It’s the “Why” behind the action. When we are motivated, we act. When we are unmotivated, we don’t act.
Motivation is important for writing because it’s the driving force behind every single action you take. The reason you pick up a pen and write (or turn on your computer and type) is that you are eager to accomplish something. Writing is an act of motivation. If you’re not motivated to write, you won’t write.
Even if you are able to force yourself to write a few words, if you’re not motivated, your creation will be mediocre at best. The key to making great content is always being driven by the desire to make a great piece. Motivation alone doesn’t always lead to quality content, but it paves the way for it.
Tips on Getting Motivated to Write
1. Find the Perfect Writing Space
To be productive, you need an environment to write. Writers don’t need a fancy office or a beautiful writing desk. Just make sure that you have a space you are comfortable working in. According to the book “The War of Art,” the perfect writing environment for you is a place where you feel safe and comfortable. Otherwise, you may be tempted to procrastinate.
Choose a place that is conducive to the way you write best. If you can, you might as well go for a space that has a window or a lot of natural light.
Find a place where you can think clearly. If you can’t write well because you get distracted by things around you (i.e. a cluttered space, noisy background), you won’t be able to produce quality work. When you can’t write in a space that makes you happy and inspired, it’s hard to produce quality work.
2. Set Writing Goals
If you are feeling unmotivated, think about what you really want to achieve from what you’re writing. What do you want to accomplish for your writing goals? What will it take for you to get there? Write that goal down. Make your to do list specific. This will help you to stay focused on your goal and not get lost in the process.
This isn’t just about getting your word count on the blank page or writing as many words as you can only to end up with bad writing; it’s about taking the time to reflect and think through what you want to accomplish with your writing process before you put your fingers on the keyboard. This can be an excellent way to keep focused on your writing prompts and practice your best writing .
3. Commit to a Regular Writing Time
When you start writing consistently, you start getting your “writing muscles” going. The more you write, the better your writing will become. The key is consistency. Consistency means that you will be writing regularly, and if you stick with it for a certain amount of time, your writing skills will start to improve.
Setting up a consistent writing process time every day, like day writing, is a good way to keep yourself disciplined. It can help you manage your daily workload. It also gives you a predictable structure, allowing you to set a goal and achieve it on a consistent basis.
If you’re unable to write every day, schedule a regular writing routine time at least every week and stick to it.
4. Set Deadlines
Deadlines motivate yourself to write on time and complete your tasks more efficiently and effectively. The time frame helps you see how far away you are from completion and will also make you more accountable. If you’re a freelance writer, setting deadlines can help you become productive and stay motivated throughout your writing journey.
Setting a deadline can keep you from procrastinating. Doing so gives you a sense of accomplishment and helps you complete your tasks in a timely manner. Write your schedule on a sticky note, put it on your phone, or post it somewhere where you see it every day. The trick is to force yourself to stick to it and don’t let anything stop you from finishing.
5. Write Now, Edit Later
This is the time to get your thoughts out of your head and onto the blank page. Think of all of the ideas, facts, questions, stories, and anecdotes you have about your topic. Then just start typing them out.
You don’t have to worry about perfection at this point—your first draft isn’t going anywhere. As you write, you might find new ideas, and you can also make some connections between the things that you have written.
If you feel stuck, it may be helpful to do a brain dump. It’s a good idea to get your thoughts out of your head and onto the paper because it makes you think more clearly and write better sentences.
You shouldn’t worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation until after you have written your first draft. You can re read and edit it later.
6. Remind Yourself the Reason Why You’re Writing
This is one of the most important things about motivation. Your why should be the driving force behind your actions. It’s the fuel that keeps you going. Ask yourself why you’re writing. It can be easy to blame the usual day-to-day tasks and forget what your true purpose is.
Your why determines how much you can achieve in life. If you have a strong why, then you will work hard for the future. Without a strong why, you can easily lose interest in your work. What do you want to do? What do you aim to accomplish? How will you feel when you achieve your goals? Are these reasons enough to motivate you to keep on writing? You should write down your why because it’s like your guiding star to achieving your goals.
7. Exercise
If you’re feeling burnt out with writing, exercise. Exercise helps you focus, lowers stress, and reduces anxiety. It won’t get you back on track to writing, but it’ll give you the mental boost to keep going.
Exercising triggers the release of endorphins, which are natural painkillers that reduce stress and help with depression. Exercise also improves your mood by increasing your levels of the feel-good chemical serotonin, which makes you more likely to feel good about yourself and have a better outlook.
According to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, exercising can increase your little motivation to write by as much as 25%!
You can schedule a time to exercise before you write or take a walk after some time of writing challenge to help you relax and relieve stress.
8. Hang Out With Successful or Self-Driven People
Surround yourself with people who can inspire you. When writers get inspired by the ideas and personalities of others, their own writing routine gets better too.
People who have achieved success have discipline. You can learn from their plans and mistakes. You can pick up their habits on how they manage to stay motivated in writing. They can help you develop a strategy for yourself and be better.
9. Reward Yourself
You deserve a reward for all that time and energy you spend writing.
It’s an incentive for you to work harder. Set milestones, and treat yourself after you accomplish each of them. Don’t wait until you finish everything. Start rewarding yourself early. That’s the key.
Take a break from writing and go on a vacation to find writing inspiration. Try to do something that you really enjoy doing. Do something fun with your friends and family. Play with your pet or go shopping. You’ll feel better when you are doing things you enjoy.
This will give you the energy and motivation to keep going. Once you feel motivated to write again. Remember, your brain will not be able to produce anything without relaxation and happiness.
10. Hire a Writing Coach
A good writing coach will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.
Writing coaches will correct and guide you if you make any mistakes in writing prompts and help you create and compose appealing content that will be more readable, engaging, and persuasive to your readers.
They can also assist you to improve the quality of your writing and determine whether or not you have a good or a bad piece of content. And, they are the person who can help you shape your message into the most effective one. Finally, your coach can also help you in overcoming all of the obstacles that stand in your way and help you develop a plan to not lose your motivation in writing.
Remember that a good writing coach will help you become a better writer.
What Factors Can Decrease Your Writing Motivation?
You’re demotivated by fear.
When you’re feeling scared, stressed, anxious, or afraid, you want to avoid or fight the situation. Fear makes people lose focus, lose energy, and get stuck in a negative thought pattern. That’s why it’s one of the most common reasons for writer burnout and can even lead to quitting.
When you start thinking about all of the things that could go wrong, you start losing motivation and confidence. So how do you overcome fear? Start by learning to recognize it in yourself. Next, learn to let it go. And finally, learn to find the silver lining.
You’re not aiming high enough with your writing goals.
When writing, we tend to focus on the goal itself, which is a very vague thing. Instead of doing that, focus on the specific steps to get to your goal and aim high.
When you aim for something high, your motivation to write about it becomes even stronger. There’s something very motivating about trying to achieve greatness. We are more likely to take action if we know where we want to go.
It gives you focus on the task at hand and a sense of determination, and it helps to push you forward in life and keep you inspired.
Also, yes, your goals are very important. However, they should be bigger than just you. Your goal should be to do something for someone else. This helps motivate you to keep writing.
You’re demotivated by burnout.
When you are emotionally drained, you might write worse, make less thoughtful content, and become more susceptible to errors.
Burnout can lead to writer’s block, which is a problem for writers who spend long periods of time working on their own. It also results in losing enthusiasm for their work. Because of the pressure that’s in the writer’s mind, they just can’t think of anything new to write about. Due to this, sometimes, they just give up and decide to quit writing.
So it’s really important to learn how to cope with stress. Know when to take breaks. Go out with your friends and talk about positive things. Get physically active, hit the gym, go out for a run, and do that Zumba.
You’re demotivated by grief.
Grief can take a toll on us all in some way. It’s common for someone who is grieving to be distracted by feelings of loss. Emotions such as sadness can affect our willingness to make the commitment to write about them because we’re too stressed to think about anything other than what’s making us feel bad.
If you have ever experienced the loss of someone close to you, then you may be familiar with grief’s debilitating effects on motivation. You can’t force yourself to write if you’re in a bad mood, and that’s why it’s important to have a plan for when you’re feeling down and don’t want to do anything at all.
The first thing to do is to acknowledge the emotion.
Other writers take advantage of their grief to write a book or a blog post. For them, it’s not a hindrance in writing prompts. Grief can also be a great motivator. It actually really depends on how you take ownership of your work, regardless of the circumstances that happen to you.
You run out of writing ideas for your book.
Many writers suffer from writer’s block and find themselves in a rut no matter what their writing style is. They have no idea what to write about. This often leads to writers turning to self-criticism and negative self-talk, which also can lead to an inability to think creatively. Sometimes, they can’t continue writing because, after a while, they feel like they aren’t so knowledgeable on the topic they chose after all.
It’s easy to let yourself down when you’re not feeling confident with your work. It is also easy to get stuck thinking when you are writing about something that you don’t like. This is one of the more frustrating times to be a writer. Sometimes, it just doesn’t go as planned, and the word count just stops flowing. You can be a better writer by
If you get into this situation, check out the tips above to get the motivation you need.
You’re seeking motivation where you should be seeking habits.
Writers sometimes lose motivation because it is temporary and works really well just for short-term goals. In reality, it’s just one part of the equation when it comes to getting people to take action. Habits are what really move the needle.
Habits give confidence and momentum to persist in writing prompts and make things happen.
As you write every day, you will form a good writing habit that makes you more motivated because the more you do it, the more likely you’ll continue to do it in the future.
Wrapping Up with Bonus Tips on How to Get Started Writing
Brain Dump
Brain dumping allows you to let your mind think about a particular topic and see if there are any potential ideas. Remember that the goal isn’t to have a fully formed idea. Instead, it’s to get a lot of thoughts and ideas down on paper quickly and to try to see if there’s anything in them worth exploring further. Write down everything you can think of. With this, you can start with either an idea or a topic you know you’ll enjoy.
Research
Once you have a few ideas for your article, you should start looking for sources of information. The internet is a haven of resources and an excellent place for writing courses. You can also look for books in your local library.
Researching is a great way to get your creative juices flowing. The more you research, the more ideas you will have and be able to share.
It is important that you gather as many details about the topic as you can. But make sure that you are focusing on the important parts and that you’re not being distracted by other topics.
Make an Outline
An outline is often used to organize thoughts and can be a great tool to help you determine the structure of your content and keep you on track.
Outlining will give you an opportunity to review your ideas before moving on to the next stage. You can use different types of outlines—for example, a bullet point list or a step-by-step plan—to organize your thoughts in a way that makes sense to you. The more detailed, the better, as long as you don’t lose sight of what’s important. The best outline is one that makes sense to you and helps you create a plan.
What If I Really Can’t Write?
If you really want to become a published author but do not want to write, hope is not lost—there’s a very easy way. Leaders Press can do all the work for you. Aside from giving some time for a private interview where you will share all the thoughts and ideas you want to be written down, you can keep all the heavy lifting off your shoulders. Leaders Press has a proven process to create a best-selling book published under your name where you do not have to spend a lot of time and effort.
If you are wondering if you should outsource your book with Leaders Press, go ahead and schedule a free consultation.
Do you want to find out more about how you can find the motivation to write? Watch our podcast here: