I took this photo July 3rd, 2015.
Rainy Days and Monday’s Always Gets Me Down…
How does one manage to keep motivated when even the sun isn’t motivated to come out either?
I struggle with this big time. But there’s something I’ve been doing that’s keeping me motivated to write and work on my stories and they are my goals. I want to be a published writer next year. That is my big goal for 2019 and I believe that I can do it. It also helps that I’m in a lot of different writer groups that focuses on sprinting.
One of the sprinting posts from a group I’m in.
What is sprinting?
Sprinting is when you write in a blocked time. So, for example, if you want write for fifteen minutes straight, you just write for solely fifteen minutes. You don’t edit, you don’t do other things during that time. Then at the end of it all, you check out how many words you wrote. It’s a great exercise to see how much you can come up with in a short period of time.
Some groups also like having us post what our favorite line is from that sprint. I love doing that because it brings me back to what I just wrote and makes me look over to see if there’s anything worth keeping. For me, my favorite lines are usually a piece of dialogue. I think that probably stems from my screenwriting background.
It doesn’t matter how long the sprints are. Some can be as short as five minutes. As long as you are making the time to write.
I love sprinting. It helps me stay on track and focused for short bursts of time. Sometimes I manage to get out like 200+ words in a fifteen minute sprint. It’s a shock to me, especially when I was struggling to figure out the first few words to the sentence I wanted to write just before I started sprinting.
I think the time crunch is what helps with the motivation. You have a deadline… fifteen minutes… now write.
I’m sprinting while writing this blog post. No lie. It’s happening this very second. You see, it doesn’t have to be done while you’re writing your next great novel. It can be done while writing your essays, blogs, etc. That’s what I love about sprinting and that’s what I love about writing groups. Everyone is working on their own projects, but we’re all writing for the same amount of time.
Being a part of these groups not only help me stay motivated to write, but also motivated to keep doing what I’m doing. We’re all struggling out there, right now. We’re also in different stages of our writing process. Some of these writers that are in the group have already published their books! It’s great to get advice and encouragement from your peers. It’s nice to be able to connect with others who understand what you’re going through or have been through it before and are able to guide you through your challenges.
So, on rainy days like today, I’m grateful to have these groups that I’m a part of. They literally kick me into gear and help me stay on track to meet my goal.
I highly recommend joining a writing group while you work on your NaNoWriMo novel and also while you’re writing throughout the year. Keep the sprints going and soon you’ll find you’ve finished your novel/novella/short story/screenplay.
Just know whatever you’re working on, I’m cheering you on.
Thanks for reading!
-Emi
If you’re interested in being a part of any of the writer groups I’m in send me a message on Facebook and I’ll add you to the one I joined that was just formed!