Writing With No Motivation
I wrote my first draft in three months. All 110,000 words of it. I have ADHD, so concentration isn’t easy for me and during this time I was working a full time job. I wrote in evenings and on weekends, and you can bet I didn’t feel motivated to write every single day, but I did and I’m here so tell you how.
1. Have a set time to write.
I committed myself to an hour of writing daily in which I would bash out 1,000 words. Getting into a routine helped me write even when I didn’t really feel like it, I just became used to writing at this time every day. If you can’t do 1,000 words in an hour, that’s okay. Set a time goal instead of a word count goal, I find that allows me to put extra energy into concentrating as I know when it will end.
2. Remove distractions from sight.
Object permanence is a myth. Put your phone in the next room, or under your pillow when you’re at your desk, put it on absolute silent. Get noise-cancelling headphones to block out kids/siblings. If you get an impulse to do something, write it down and do it after. Turn your wifi off and only turn it back on for research purposes.
On days when you really don’t feel like writing, set a 20 minute timer and a minimum word count of 200 words. Bash that out and if you’re not in the flow after 20 minutes, stop, but you might find you are, so carry on until it ends! Remember, any no. of words a day is better than 0.
4. Get a Concentration Candle
The candle is only allowed to be lit while you’re concentrating. If you get distracted, you have to blow it out and that’s kinda sad. Also if it’s scented you’ll start to associate the smell with concentrating and writing and that will help you feel ventured and focused. Idk why this works so well, but it really does, trust me.
5. Work out where the scene/chapter/act/story is going.
One of my biggest deterrents for writing is not knowing what to put on the page next. I struggle to do both pretty words and developing a good plot at the same time. So I block out the scene, I plot, I get excited about the rest of the book, I make sure this scene or chapter is important! This never fails to motivate me.
I hope this has helped! Feel free to add to this!
[if reposting to Instagram please credit @isabellestonebooks]
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