How do you find the motivation to write every day?

[K5Rakitan]

Before my baby popped out of me and I had to hold my nipple in his mouth at bedtime, I would write a little before going to sleep every night.

 

[Mechaphobic]

Some people are functional humans with real lives and they can find some measures of success for themselves in this world we find ourselves in. And then their are people with severe anxiety who sometimes wonder if negative luck is a real thing. I wrote these characters and gave them my own bad luck and lack of planning, and it has somehow worked out for me.


I write everyday, because otherwise my depression and anxiety would devour me alive. It is one of my only real methods of stress release, I never thought that I was any good at it. The phobic in my name is very accurate you see. If I were a king I would run my country based off minority rule. Under the firm concept "I don't want to offend anybody!" It's why I could never be an isekai hero, at most just a bystander.


I am like H.P. Lovecraft, writing due to pure mental disorder!

 

[SootShade]

I got so sick of my procrastinating habits that I just wrote up a prologue and a first chapter, based on a random idea that I had on my desktop, and released them on SH as soon as they were ready. From there, I managed to keep a steady pace and release a chapter every couple of days with my initial motivation.

At that point, I told myself that I could stick to a steady schedule and release three times a week. And I more or less have, since I stated that promise. I've found out that I can work very diligently if I feel like I have any sort of an obligation, and it turns out that knowing that some people read it regularly, and that I've promised updates, is enough for me to convince myself that I have one.

Since I had absolutely nothing planned when I started, that has meant working on it on a daily basis. Mind you, I do the majority of the writing on the days that I make the releases, but I still need to prepare the rough outlines of the coming chapters on the off days, and also try to actually plan out the story further ahead. I've surprised myself by actually working on this at least a little every day for over a month, but I plan to keep it up.

 

[Akivien]

Wait, I actually have motivation to write? Thats news to me....

Well, to be fair, the only time I have motivation to write is only when I'm bored or threaten to kill myself just to continue writing.

And the threaten part.... Its either that I basically go 'Wait, why do I even need to write' to 'why threaten myself to die when I'm already dead inside'..... it kinda took it over but in reverse instead.... hahahaha......

haha......


ha..... ha..... haha.....

*Starts Loading the gun*

Lol i have this thing i do in my mind i just have me1 threaten me2 and force them to work

 

[AliceShiki]

Motivation is the easiest thing to find tbh... And honestly, if you can't find the motivation for it, I think writing might not be for you.

Between finding motivation to write and actually writing though, there is a big hurdle to cross... Mainly, procrastination. As well some other stuff like Writer's Block, lack of inspiration, some game that makes you lose track of time and yada yada... But procrastination is like, 10000x stronger than those other things from my experience.

As for how to bypass procrastination... Uhn... It's hard. Here are many different methods that may work to different extents depending on each person, I have tried pretty much all of it myself:

• Making a schedule.
• Desperately needing money and having some way of instantly monetizing your work.
• Talking to a psychologist.
• Taking meds from a psychiatrist.
• Releasing chapters as you finish writing them AND getting comments from readers that are invested in your story (the second part doesn't depend on you, but it's one of the things that helped me the most when I was writing my first novel).
• Getting a boyfriend (I swear it helps, believe me).
• Setting a work environment.
• Staying away from your phone during writing hours.
• Making your writing hours as hours that "You do not need to write, but you will not allow yourself to do anything else... Generally, that will make you write, because it's less boring than do nothing" is a tip I got from the blog of a famous author (forgot their name), though I have never been able to have a strong enough will to follow through with this.
• Blocking your favorite sites/hobbies that make you waste most hours until you actually do your share of writing for the day (This one can actually make you even less productive, mind you, so do this one with caution).

And uhn... That's about all I can think of. At the end of the day, all of those methods will only help you sit down on your chair and open your writing document... But that's it. They'll only help, actually doing it and actually writing it depends on you.

Personally speaking, it took me 5 years of trying to work from home-office until I started getting some results from this... Which is what is allowing me to pay my bills by... Translating.

Writing is my dream job, and I plan to one day substitute the translation for writing, but... I'm still struggling to regularly translate 5 chapters/week, so... I'll have to get steady on that front before I can go back to writing regularly.

So uhn... Good luck. It's pretty hard to overcome procrastination, and while some people have it easier than others, pretty much everyone struggles with it to some extent. Do your best~

 

[Deleted member 45782]

It comes as the thoughts go. One moment got an idea but by time set up laptop get out pen to write, it disappears. Its more of to just get out the random scenarios and thoughts that pop up into my head.

So not everyday.

Procrastinating from an even bigger thing can help motivate to go into a writing mood though. Also if irl things happen or need to be prioritized, then it can downplay the mood to write a lot. Sometimes it makes one wanna write things out though, just to get stuff off of mind, even if it becomes totally unrelated story, at least get the mood off chest.

I also feel like, if I were to write and publish stories more, If I accumulate some readers then I would feel sorta bad for leaving them hanging and would wanna continue putting out another chapter so not to disappoint them (felt that way on mirakee before i went long hiatus from it). That is if I reach that far though so not anytime soon.

The joy of finishing something you started is beyond words.

True.

\0o0/

 

[Malonymous]

Motivation is the easiest thing to find tbh... And honestly, if you can't find the motivation for it, I think writing might not be for you.

Between finding motivation to write and actually writing though, there is a big hurdle to cross... Mainly, procrastination. As well some other stuff like Writer's Block, lack of inspiration, some game that makes you lose track of time and yada yada... But procrastination is like, 10000x stronger than those other things from my experience.

As for how to bypass procrastination... Uhn... It's hard. Here are many different methods that may work to different extents depending on each person, I have tried pretty much all of it myself:

• Making a schedule.
• Desperately needing money and having some way of instantly monetizing your work.
• Talking to a psychologist.
• Taking meds from a psychiatrist.
• Releasing chapters as you finish writing them AND getting comments from readers that are invested in your story (the second part doesn't depend on you, but it's one of the things that helped me the most when I was writing my first novel).
• Getting a boyfriend (I swear it helps, believe me).
• Setting a work environment.
• Staying away from your phone during writing hours.
• Making your writing hours as hours that "You do not need to write, but you will not allow yourself to do anything else... Generally, that will make you write, because it's less boring than do nothing" is a tip I got from the blog of a famous author (forgot their name), though I have never been able to have a strong enough will to follow through with this.
• Blocking your favorite sites/hobbies that make you waste most hours until you actually do your share of writing for the day (This one can actually make you even less productive, mind you, so do this one with caution).

And uhn... That's about all I can think of. At the end of the day, all of those methods will only help you sit down on your chair and open your writing document... But that's it. They'll only help, actually doing it and actually writing it depends on you.

Personally speaking, it took me 5 years of trying to work from home-office until I started getting some results from this... Which is what is allowing me to pay my bills by... Translating.

Writing is my dream job, and I plan to one day substitute the translation for writing, but... I'm still struggling to regularly translate 5 chapters/week, so... I'll have to get steady on that front before I can go back to writing regularly.

So uhn... Good luck. It's pretty hard to overcome procrastination, and while some people have it easier than others, pretty much everyone struggles with it to some extent. Do your best~

Oh wow most detailed response yet, thank you! I feel most people would basically equate motivation with willpower and the ability to not procrastinate, but yeah I get what you mean. From experience, I've found that the best answer is often to not overthink things and just start writing and keep going (a schedule and such would also help... >.<). Many times that's far easier said than done though and for too many different reasons, so it's interesting to see how other writers cross that hurdle and get going~

 

[AliceShiki]

I've found that the best answer is often to not overthink things and just start writing and keep going

I totally agree! The hard part is actually starting, usually it's easier to keep going once you start! \(^^)/

 

[Agentt]

Cuz the life is pretty boring without it

 

[Derin_Edala]

I don't write every day.

I have a monthly word goal that is a) well within my capabilities without making writing into a chore and b) generates more words than I publish in a month, so that my buffer keeps growing. I don't start posting a story until I have a really big emergency buffer. Between these two things, writing is low stress and doesn't need to be done every day. I find that writing every day is a great way to burn out.

 

[Motsu]

It just comes as a natural hobby to me.

 

[StoryTellingGhost]

I got so sick of my procrastinating habits that I just wrote up a prologue and a first chapter, based on a random idea that I had on my desktop, and released them on SH as soon as they were ready. From there, I managed to keep a steady pace and release a chapter every couple of days with my initial motivation.

At that point, I told myself that I could stick to a steady schedule and release three times a week. And I more or less have, since I stated that promise. I've found out that I can work very diligently if I feel like I have any sort of an obligation, and it turns out that knowing that some people read it regularly, and that I've promised updates, is enough for me to convince myself that I have one.

Since I had absolutely nothing planned when I started, that has meant working on it on a daily basis. Mind you, I do the majority of the writing on the days that I make the releases, but I still need to prepare the rough outlines of the coming chapters on the off days, and also try to actually plan out the story further ahead. I've surprised myself by actually working on this at least a little every day for over a month, but I plan to keep it up.

For one, you have to know one way or the other that someone reads your story. The Reader number isn't helpful either, if you look deeper into who's staying up to date with the story you are discouraged when you see 5 out of 50+ are actually at the recent chapter.

The real motivation for some Authors comes from seeing people comment on their Story. Something like "Hey I liked that and how x killed y" or just a few comments here and there, just to let the Author know that his work is appreciated and read.
This has to do with "Why you write?", but in most cases, the above applies.

 

[RedHunter2296]

My biggest motivation is that my novel will not end on its own, unfortunately.