Confession time! Besides blog posts and journal entries, I haven't written anything in over a month. A month! My editor returned her notes to me right after Memorial Day weekend, and I haven't even opened the document. I feel as if spider webs are growing on my laptop.
*sigh*
At first I came up with loads of excuses...my son's graduation, end of school year banquets, hosting a swim party with 35 freshmen. My list of excuses was looooong. But really, there are no excuses. I just haven't been motivated.
But! I'm going on a mini writing retreat with a couple of friends soon, and I'm looking forward to quiet time to open up that document and get back to work. I'm motivated to be motivated :)
In honor of my long list of excuses, and my desire to motivate myself to be motivated, I'll share some quotes with you:
Excuses
"Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure." -- Don Wilder and Bill Rechin (ouch!)
"There is always a perfectly good excuse, always a reason not to. The hardest freedom to win is the freedom from one's excuses." -- Robert Brault
"You can make excuses or you can get the job done, but you can't do both." -- Hap Holmstead, The Biggest Loser
Motivation
"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." -- Lou Holtz
"Motivation will almost always beat mere talent." -- Norman Ralph Augustine
"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing--that's why we recommend it daily." -- Zig Ziglar
Have you been consistently writing? Or are you like me, and haven't opened a document in a while? Do you have a long list of excuses? Are you sufficiently motivated? Please share!
A couple of those are real zappers.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Challenge and writing so many guest posts, the burnout was my excuse. I am working on a short story now. The outline anyway. I do like to outline to death.
My current protag (to be published this week) waxes frequently about her own whining. :)
ReplyDeleteI have my own long list of excuses and they are never encouraging! Except sometimes the writing does have to take a back seat to more immediate concerns, especially with certain projects that require a long stretch to ponder.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the things you were doing kept you very busy. We all have those times, and it can make it harder to be motivated to write. But I know you'll get back into it, especially with your retreat coming up.
ReplyDeleteSince April, the most I had worked on were blog posts, but over the past week or so I've done a lot more writing. One tip from an author/blogger I know: Every time you think about your WIP, write a sentence. When you write one sentence, you may end up writing more. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm returning to a "marinating" project and needed a kick in the pants to get going. I made a "character bible" to get reacquainted with the story using pix and character analysis write ups to pull me back in.
ReplyDeleteI've been opening the document, but I haven't gotten very far. It's slow going. I think this time of year is getting to be my worst to get anything done. I need fall or winter to press on but going to continue to persevere through these months.
ReplyDeleteI've been writing pretty consistently but not getting as far as I'd like. Need to write faster.
ReplyDeleteSusan Says