So, of those of us who have tried to write a novel, who has reached a point where you are having problems finding the motivation to go on? Yes, you in the back. You in the front. You in the second row, with your hand down? You’re lying.
It can be hard to keep writing. It tends to come in dribs and drabs, a spurt of a few thousand words here, a good week there. Most of my completed books were written in four or five spurts of really good inspiration.
There are writers, who will remain nameless, who can decide on Friday that they have this story idea they’d like to work on, and have 60,000 by Wednesday. Notably, they are already full time writers. I spend 45+ hours a week at a job that, while I enjoy it, is not conducive to writing.
This, combined with the issue I was having with transitions, meant I nearly went two months without writing beyond a single short story. So, around when I set up this blog, I decided to try for a goal. Five hundred words a day. 2500 a week, because Gods know there are going to be bad days in any week.
It’s helped. Grey Tower is now at18,500 words, up 2700 since I started this site. Obviously, I’m not meeting my goal just yet (500 words a day since the 15th should be closer to, um, 6,000 *embarrassed grin*) BUT… I had a goal. I failed to meet it. I don’t know about anyone else, but failure makes ME determined to succeed. Especially when its something I can keep trying on.
Advice to anyone looking to write a book? It’s trite, its old, but set yourself a goal. If you can’t do what many ‘how to’ guides suggest of ‘set a time and always write at that time’ – and its harder than you might think to do that – at least set a ‘I will write this much in a day and a week.’
I wrote 1300 words this week, mostly on two specific days. To make my weekly goal, I need to write another 1200 words this afternoon.
Excuse me, I have a Word document with my name on it.
Glynn
Well said.