Anarchic Writing

There are times when you want to throw your manuscript in the corner of your room and pile a ton of laundry over it. But what what does that do? Nothing good, really. Sometimes, there are days when you stare at your computer monitor literally forcing yourself to type each word as if you were prying them out of an alligator’s mouth. Sound like you? Well, sometimes it happens to me as well.

Here are some methods I personally use to motivate myself to write.

1. Set a goal and purpose
If you don’t set a goal, why are you writing? What is your purpose for writing whatever you’re currently writing? If you have none, you will feel unmotivated to even start writing. Every piece of writing needs to have a purpose and a goal. Not many people just write for no reason. Often, we have reasons for why we write.

Think about it. You don’t go randomly into your car and drive aimlessly. You get in your car with a purpose and reason. The same with writing. Again, you don’t write aimlessly. Have a purpose. Draw your bow, release the arrow, and have a target in which that arrow can hit it. An arrow can’t hit a target that doesn’t exist.

2. Seeing a graph of my progress
Seeing a graph of my progress helps. You see, I love statistics and the ability to make a graph where I can see my progress and other entertaining but useful pieces of data. For instance, here’s a progress graph of a novel I’ve been writing lately:

What day is it today? September 28, 2013. The graph clearly shows that I’m behind my daily goal drastically. I need to see the blue chimneys rise higher than the gray chimneys. This, although it may sound weird, motivates me. At the end of the year, I get a graph of my total words typed and if I reached my daily goal. Seeing a graph full of very short blue chimneys will look unappealing. On the other hand, seeing a graph full of tall blue chimneys is a very rewarding sight.

It may not work for everyone, but marking your writing progress generally is a good idea. (If you’re wondering, I haven’t been reaching my writing goal lately due to, well, a chaotic life!)

3. Making myself accountable
I think this is an obvious one to most. Simply, you make yourself responsible for not reaching your (for example) goal. See #5 for more about this. Use the various methods listed here to help yourself.

4. Knowing what you’ll get at the end (the reward)
In NaNoWriMo, my writing is mainly motivated by that satisfactory feeling I’ll get when I finally pass the 50,000 word mark and onwards. I love scrolling through my long novels in OpenOffice and seeing all the pages and all the words I typed in one novel over the weeks. I’m sure I’m not the only one doing this. We do this because it’s rewarding to see our progress.

This is related to #1. If you have a goal, which you should have, then the end reward is that you reached your goal, whatever it is. Whether it was a 100,000 novel, a publishable piece of writing, or a successful essay, those are your rewards. Even just a rewarding feeling is worth all the writing and hard work.

5. Prizes and punishment
This is hard for most people. Sometimes, if I reach a certain goal of mine, such as finishing an essay, I reward myself with some tasty chocolate. Now, some of you may be saying, “But can’t we just eat the chocolate without finishing the essay?” Yes, you may eat the chocolate, but you can use it as an incentive to write. It takes a lot of self control to do this because I know, most of us can’t resist chocolate. However, it works if done correctly.

Simply think about something you really want to do RIGHT NOW when writing. Now tell yourself that you’re going to do whatever it is after you reach your daily goal or after you write something. Don’t allow yourself to do whatever you want to until you finish whatever writing you’re doing. It takes a lot of self-control, but it usually works.

Now, not many people want to do this. Sometimes, I actually punish myself for not making my goal. How? Well, during July Camp NaNoWriMo 2013, I didn’t make my daily word goal. So… I turned all my electronics off and threw it in a drawer until I made my goal. (Hey, it actually turned out to be a good thing.) Yes, it was hard to resist the urge to open the drawer and get my phone out.

6. Competition
This is one of my favorites. This is especially why Word Wars are much more effective than individual Word Sprints, which is just like a Word War but done alone. To me, I get very competitive about certain things, including writing. Although I don’t usually do them, Word Wars are exciting. If I see a writing challenge, immediately I start writing. Granted, apparently my competitive writing isn’t good as some people can attest to that. But hey, competition works. At least I wrote something because of it, right?

Usually, if you’re in a writer’s group or if you have friends interested in writing, you can challenge them to a Word War or a challenge of some sort. It work amazingly well, in my case.

7. DEADLINES
Arguably, this is one of the most effective ways of motivation, in my opinion. It works just like Method #1. If you’re writing something, you usually have a deadline. For school? A teacher could say, “I want this History paper by Monday.” However, if you’re writing for recreation, do you use deadlines? Most people don’t. That’s a big problem, because people start to procrastinate for days and days. Why? Because they have no incentive to finish it now. They can always do it tomorrow, there’s no deadline.

DEADLINES ARE IMPORTANT. That’s why NaNoWriMo is so effective. That’s why so many people join NaNoWriMo, for the competition and the deadline; each which drives them toward the 50,000 word goal. It worked for me. During the July Camp NaNoWriMo, I wrote more words in two weeks in one project than I ever did in in two years for one project. It really motivated me.

So, if you don’t have a deadline for your writing, make one now. It can be a month away or a year away. Just make one. For instance, “I have to finish this novel by 2015.” Granted it’s two years away, but it’s a deadline nonetheless. Now you have to finish whatever it is you’re writing before that deadline. You can use #5 to reward yourself if you succeed or punish yourself if you fail.

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Overall, I have listed just seven ways to motivate yourself while writing in this post. I hope at least some of these tips and methods will help you. I encourage you all to find your own unique ways of motivating yourself as well, and please do share it here also for the benefit of others! Thank you!