Call for Writers: Motivation Interview
June 30, 2009 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Jobs
Staying motivated is one of the hardest parts of freelance writing, in my opinion. Writer’s block. Inspiration. The desire to work and do well. Some days, the sun is shining and the pool is calling my name…and I don’t really care how many articles are left unfinished on my plate.
Image: sxc.hu
So, I want to know how you guys and gals stay motivated. If you have five minutes of time, I’d love to hear your answers to a little motivation and writer’s block questionnaire I’ve created. I’ll post responses here (along with links back to your website(s)) starting next month!
If you’re interested in answering the four questions, email me at allison-at-abcontentonline.com with “Writer’s Questions” in the subject line!
My motivation basically comes from my insights. I try to be keen on the little things that happen no matter how common they are. You’ll be surprised how much inspiration you can get by noticing the most ordinary things.
For the most part, I’m one of those naturally self motivated people. That said, there are a few things I do to stay motivated. They are:
1. Take a proactive career approach to ensure I get to write about things that actually interest me. I only pitch magazine articles that I want to write. I pursue book authors (I’m a ghost writer/collaborator) who I want to work with and I bring ideas to the table–ideas I want to develop. This helps A LOT because I actually look forward to what I “have” to write, most of the time.
2. Obviously, though, I need to write some things for the money. I usually do those first thing in the morning. It’s a way of giving myself a carrot: once I get this boring piece of crap assignment off my desk? I can work on the cool project!
3. I take breaks. On beautiful days, I give myself 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there to sit outside and sip some tea or have some lunch or just close my eyes for a few minutes. I take an extra walk. And I intersperse these breaks so they come at natural pauses in the workday.
4. I go easy on myself. Writers block rarely lasts forever. Usually the fear of it perpetuates it. So when I’m feeling uninspired, I say, “This will pass.” It usually does. I like to think of that uninspired phase as the time when the cow is standing in the field chewing its cud. It looks like it’s doing nothing, but it’s really making milk. Usually I’m making milk during this phase, too, but I just don’t know it yet.
5. To break free from a block, I sometimes do some really boring things like update my address book or sort through paper files. Something about getting organized and cleaning helps me to get inspired to write. I guess it’s about feeling balanced or something.
6. When all else fails and I HAVE TO WRITE TO MEET A DEADLINE? I drink. Seriously. A glass of wine usually helps me to just throw up on the screen. It’s a lot easier to edit than it is to write. Once the basic stuff is there, I can usually move forward no problem.I just make sure to do the editing part sober.
I just started a blog recently to keep writing in front of me. I try to write posts about how I am doing, and I also write posts about the writing process itself. I find it is making me more aware of my writing and giving me goals to shoot for. I would like to be a published fiction writer and a freelance writer. Getting traffic on the blog is a real treat, of course, but I mostly do it for the writerly focus.