Self-Motivation

One of the hardest parts of being a writer is being able to motivate myself to do things when I’m not under deadline.

Right now, I’m in a holding pattern. I’ve returned all my edits and I’m waiting for my galleys. I’m waiting on my cover art. I’m also waiting on a release date. That’s a lot of waiting. No, I’m not complaining—there are a lot of pieces in the publishing puzzle, and my job is to make sure I finish all of mine in a timely manner so that the rest of the team can do their job.

They’re doing it right now.

But that means I need to be doing something else.

Ideally, I need to be writing. It takes me approximately six months to write a first draft of a book. If I wait until a book is published before starting on a new one, I’ll never gain traction in a publishing industry that is crammed with authors. So when I’m not on deadline, I need to be writing the next book.

Because there’s no one standing over me with a whip forcing me to write, however, that’s sometimes harder than it sounds. Daily life gets in the way. The news makes me want to crawl into a hole. And self-doubt always rears its head when my characters that usually occupy that space are silent. 

So sometimes I have to force myself to do it, despite how much I enjoy what I do. When that happens, the dog gets lots of exercise. We walk, which clears my head and gets my muse flowing. I try to talk to other writers—brainstorming with them about their writing problems shows me I’m not alone and also gets my muse flowing.

And I focus on marketing. Because unless people buy my books—and leave reviews—no one is going to know they’re out there.

Speaking of marketing, Amazon surprised me by putting one of my books on sale. If you haven’t read it yet, now is a great time to do so, especially since I have no idea how long the sale is going to last. Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Minutes-Love-Serendipity-Book-ebook/dp/B079WMLNJB