Monday, May 14, 2012

Guest Post: 3 Tips for Staying Motivated to Write (When You Really Don't Want To)

Today I present a guest post with some useful tips to stay motivated as a writer.




3 Tips for Staying Motivated to Write (when You Really Don't Want To)




One of the most difficult aspects of writing can be actually staying motivated to do so. Whether writing is your passion, career, or hobby, keeping up with it can really be a challenge at times. It's an exhausting process. Part of it has to do with the fact that writing is such a long endeavor. Really writing something takes a long time commitment. You have to be dedicated to the process through and through. Completing your work may take weeks, it may take months, it may take years—but you have to commit to it fully. This can be a truly daunting task. Furthermore, because writing is such a personal and individual process, it can be really difficult to stay motivated. You're basically on your own. There's no doubt that writing is a difficult task. We do it because we love it, because we're good at it, and because we feel we have something to share. Use these three tips to stay motivated with your writing and really create the product you want.



Set Goals

Goal setting is no new thing to the world of a writer. We've all tried it. You set a few outlandish goals and wait for the magic to happen. Goals are great and it can be wonderful to set far-reaching ones. But they don't always work. You have to set the right goals. Get specific. You're not going to find much motivation if the "specific" goal that you set for yourself is to "finish your novel" or "meet a deadline". These are important goals, but not motivating ones. Find specific things that you can try to meet. Pick tasks that have to do with your writing that are extremely particular and timely. Dedicate yourself to writing for an hour straight a day without distractions. Pick a day to have a specific paragraph done by. These are the types of goals that help writers actually accomplish something. The trick to motivational goal-setting is finding goals that are a challenge to meet without being too challenging, but that are not too easy. You want just the right amount of pressure put on, so that you can really get it done.



Remove Distraction

As writers, distraction is one of the most challenging things to cope with. Distraction is everywhere. We work alone, from our computers, at an extremely self-motivational task. There are endless choices for distraction. First of all, because we work from our computers the Internet is at our fingertips the entire time we're trying to focus. This can be seriously problematic. One of the best ways to find new motivation in your writing is to eliminate all other options. Find a place, situation, and time that are completely distraction free for you. Go to a coffee shop, the library, work from home—wherever you can best focus. Listen to music if that helps you or find a totally silent area. You need to find the environment that you work best in and then perpetuate it. Finding focus can be very difficult, but once you are able to create the right work situation, motivation becomes much easier.



Make It a Habit

One of the best ways to really accomplish something is by creating a habit out of the task. If you consistently make yourself work on your writing in some way or another each day, you can turn it into a routine. By incorporating your writing time into your regular schedule, it can become less of a task and more of a habit. Try to set away the same time each day to do your writing. You want to keep things as consistent as possible. This is the best way to create a careful habit out of the task. Making something a habit in your everyday can be a great way to avoid really needing extra motivation to do it. If it's a habit, it's just something you do. Set a regular time, stick to it, and watch yourself become used to the task. It takes some time to make something become a regular habit. Just stick with it. Finding motivation can be tricky on busy days or tiring ones. Rather than forcing yourself to find motivation for your writing, make it a permanent and consistent part of every day.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Katheryn Rivas, who writes for online universities blog. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katherynrivas87@gmail.com





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