Keeping Going by Allison Symes

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos 

This is probably an apt title for this post given January seems to be the longest month of the year! How do you motivate yourself to keep going with your writing? If you’re earning from your writing, there is an obvious motivation to keep going but most people, I find, have times where they’re tired and writing is harder to do. The darker times of year don’t help either.

I know when I’m tired my creativity drops. No real surprises there but it’s taken me a while to figure that link out. What can I do? Be kind to myself and just write something as I know any writing makes me feel better. Doesn’t matter if it’s 50 or 500 words - I know I’ve got something down. Just knowing that gives me a much needed boost. 

When I’m not tired and am in the zone, I just keep going and going and going like the old Duracell bunny. (Younger readers - this was a famous advert from years ago which ran for ages, much as the bunny itself did, and I am that old). 

I find having small projects on the go I can complete quickly helps. I love ticking these off my list. With longer projects, I want to be able to see I am making progress but this will be over a longer time period. That’s fine. It’s the progress which matters.

Writing for competitions or having deadlines to meet helps a lot too. Deadlines give you targets to aim for and that is incredibly helpful. You have an end goal  in sight - your story being entered for said competition or your blog appearing. 

I started drafting this one earlier in the month, then added to it, and edited it well ahead of my spot here. I usually try to get my More than Writers post scheduled about ten days before it is due to go out so I still have time to have a final look at it before you good people get to see it.

But the good news here is you can set your own deadline for writing work (whether or not you’re submitting it for publication). 

I’ve always found with competitions and submitting for markets, I take about ten days off the final deadline and use that date for my final polish and check. I then submit the piece well ahead of their deadline. 

 

As sometimes happen, I spot mistakes, I’ve still got time to amend those and get the piece in for the right time. Taking the pressure off yourself by setting your own deadline and building in manoeuvre room is something I’ve found to be incredibly helpful. 

Also the more you write to a deadline, the more you get used to doing that and it becomes second nature and before you know it, you find you have a great method to ensure you are keeping going.