I want to be an author! It's my dream! But I have so many issues motivating myself to write, or I run into problems where I world build and make awesome characters and have a plot ready and then when I get to a certain point in writing, everything just goes blank! Or, my biggest issue lately, my brain keeps pulling up a book I worked on in high school pointing out the ways it's "still a good idea if you tweak it" and it's very distracting. Do you have any tips to help with these kinds of things?
Yes. Go with your gut feeling. If you have a niggling book that you’ve always wanted to write, listen to that feeling! Don’t dismiss it, it’s very satisfying writing a book you’ve always wanted to write!
Re: mind going blank - do you have a beta/editor you can discuss things with? If I have a plot point I can’t work out, I chat with my wife or my editor about it. I tell them I’m having trouble with something and we talk it through until it makes sense. It really helps to articulate the issue because sometimes you come to results of your own!
I’ve written something about motivation here: Q: How Do You Write So Much? However, treating writing like a job means you will run into the same issues that cause you problems at any job, like mental health, physical health, burnout, etc, interfering with your productivity. Be kind to yourself. Health is typically cyclical and you will be able to write soon :)
