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Today’s post is by Faith Kochanowski and she’s got some excellent insight.

How to deal with non-motivation/discouragement
Non-motivation is a real thing. It is also paralyzing. I ought to know, I’m dealing with it right now. And that is why I am writing this topic up weeks in advance rather than working on my own novel. Is that counterproductive or what?

We’ve all been there. We have a project we want to work on and we really try hard to do it. But then something happens and our motivation gets thrown out the window, takes a drive, then a plane, and disappears far, far out of reach.

So what can you do to get your motivation back? Here are a few tips.

 

Revisit your inspiration

Go back to the day you came up with the idea for your writing project. Remember what it was that inspired your story and try to recapture that excitement and drive to get the story on paper. Then go back to your story and put that excitement into your writing.

 

Brainstorm

If your motivation problems stem for a lack of ideas, brainstorm. Ask the question “What if…” and come up with a bunch of those. Remember, this is a brainstorming session. All ideas are on the table, even the really weird and bizarre. So what if you won’t use the idea? Write it down anyway. Maybe it will inspire another idea that will actually work.

 

Freewrite

Find a writing prompt online and write that. Or just write whatever happens to come to mind during a set amount of time.

 

Create good writing habits

Ouch. This is one I need to do better. Creating good writing habits will help you do more writing and keep your motivation going. A few habits you should try to do are: Write consistently, figure out your most productive time, and create an environment that helps you be creative. I’m sure there are more, but those are some of the big ones.

 

Avoid procrastination

One thing I usually try to do is get at least a little bit of writing done right away in the morning. Basically, my schedule looks like this: Devotions, breakfast, writing. Sometimes I switch the writing and breakfast depending on how hungry I am. I personally find that if I do writing first thing, I’ll be more motivated throughout the day to do more.

 

What are some other tips you have for staying motivated? What’s the first of these tips that you are going to try?

 

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