This is an ongoing series of “questions every author avoids answering” (based on this video by Dale L. Roberts) and my answers to them. I recommend every author ask themselves these same questions to better understand themselves and their art.
(image generated with ChatGPT)
Question:
What do you do when motivation drops?
The Quick Answer:
Read fiction or switch projects.
The Long Answer:
We all have moments of low motivation. Maybe we’ve been at something too long. Maybe we’re distracted. Maybe we’re just bored of the same ol’ thing.
I don’t get writer’s block. By the time I put hands on keyboard to write a story, I’ve outlined it and played it through in my head like a movie, so I pretty much always know what to write. But I do get moments where my motivation is low. It’s only human. So what to do?
For the little moments, I take a break. I go get some tea or soda. I do a bit of housework. Or maybe get a snack. But for the longer moments, where my inspiration starts to lag and my mind wanders, I choose something more drastic.
One thing I do is read fiction. I pick up one of the two or three books I have going at any time and read a bit. Maybe a few chapters. This stirs up my imagination and gets my mind away from my own strange worlds and into someone else’s for a bit. But a tiny bit of my brain, way back in the storeroom of my mind, the story is still rolling. That unconscious part of my mind is still working on the book. So by the time I get back to my keyboard, all I have to do is open that door to the storeroom and it all comes flooding out. Then I’m back on track. As Stephen King wrote in his half-memoir/half-writing guide, On Writing, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot."
If that doesn’t work, then I switch projects. I always have multiple projects going. At the moment, I’m writing book 3 of my fantasy series. But I’m also writing at least one short story a month (to give to my newsletter followers each month and one day maybe add to an anthology), I blog (like at this moment), and I have some old stories I’d love to return to. Outside of writing, but still related to author stuff, I also critique other’s work for my writing group as well as editing other’s work for my author services. I’m always busy, never bored, and always engaging the writing side of my brain.
And if all of that fails (and it never does), then there’s always writing exercises to fall back on.
Then, when my creative juices are flowing again, I go back
to my main project.
Cheers and happy reading!
