Regaining Motivation
July 20, 2022
Every now and then, a writer will lose his or her motivation to write, often due to writer’s block, lack of inspiration, or burnout. It’s a very unfortunate situation that every writer will face at some point in their writing journey. While there isn’t a guaranteed cure, there are many paths writers take to beat the block and regain their motivation.
Take A Break
When you hit a roadblock in your writing process, your automatic response is to try and fix it. Unfortunately, fixating on a problem and racking your brain for a solution doesn’t always provide the desired outcome. It can often lead to frustration and self-doubt, draining a writer’s battery until they have no motivation left.
Sometimes it’s best to take a step back for a little while. Try to forget about the problem by reading or working on another project (especially if it’s not writing-related). When you come back, hours, days, or weeks later, your mind will be ready with fresh ideas to tackle whatever problem is waiting.
Read
Reading can be an incredible source of inspiration and motivation. When you read a good book, it can remind you why you write and inspire you to work on your own story. Likewise, reading a bad book can also inspire you. Only in this case, it can inspire you to create something better than what you just read.
Enjoy Your Creation
Sometimes the best source of motivation is in the story you’re writing. Take a step away from the writing process to explore your world. Sketch out maps, design the fashion of your fantasy land, or jot down history, facts, and legends to reconnect with the world you’ve created. Likewise, you can use your break to develop characters, write one-shots, make playlists, or draw character art to remind yourself how special these characters are. Reconnecting with this part of your WIP can provide fresh motivation and excitement to return to the page and write their story.
Make a Change
No, I don’t mean in your story (though that isn’t always a bad idea). I’m talking about changing something about your surroundings. If you normally write at your desk, try writing in the kitchen or outdoors. If you have a messy setup, maybe give it a quick clean or rearrange your room. You can even change the font you write in to create a physical change to reenergize your brain.
Conclusion
As I said at the beginning of this post, there is no guaranteed cure to restore your motivation. However, these methods have proved useful to me and other writers in the past. The most important thing to remember is that everyone struggles with motivation from time to time. You can always reach out to other writers for tips on beating the block and getting back to creating an amazing story.