Discipline, oh my!

(Maybe I'm seeking some miracle cure for my laziness...)

But I would love some tips on FOCUSING. Getting inspired and sticking to it, writing on a regular basis, refraining from giving up on a piece-despite evidently BAD writing. See, I have ideas: plenty of them. Unfortunately, these ideas never make it onto paper. I usually sit down for an hour, scrawl out 200 words of nonsense, and give up. My mind gets distracted very easily, I get jumpy, and eventually leave my seat, informing myself politely that I've gone to get a drink. I never come back.

What I'm asking is, how do you guys get motivated enough to produce a longer piece of writing? Does anyone else suffer from impatience? Have you perhaps heard of some herbal supplement that promotes mature writing skills? Thank you.

A few possible tips (I've worked some this way) --

I don't get so distracted as I get frenetic, uncomfortable sitting or dejected. But usually a good twenty minutes or more of doing something physical relaxes and refocuses my mind. I've gone running, jumped rope...ah, even swept the floor.

Fencing always helps - but you probably don't fence, so that one's specific to me.

Listening to music can help. Sometimes (if you're more extroverted) talking to someone you know (or know would listen/be interested) will help you stay on purpose.

Then there's always the merely 'must-sit-and-write' until you've got a certain amount done. If you can't go anywhere with one idea, switch to what you're inclined towards at the moment. But write.

In the end, sometimes, it just a bloody, head-bashed-into-wall forcing yourself to sit there no matter what. ...sometimes.

Nanowrimo.

Or:

- Bribe yourself.
- Get someone to write with you.
- Get someone to harass you when you don't write.

I agree with smaur's third tip. I have a couple of people to harass me write my novel. I've worked on it for five years, not really getting very far, but as soon as I got several people harassing me into writing it and showing it to them, I wrote like...50 K words in several months. Don't underestimate the power of peer pressure!

Thanks for the advice. I am particularily attracted to the idea of bribing myself, and am considering fasting until I can complete 500 words.

I totally agree with Smaur on NaNoWriMo. I went from writing maybe a chapter a week to...well, 50k in a month. And your writing style really changes after that- I'm able to sit and type longer than I was before I did NaNo.

See my blog entry, Plotting the Motivational Way

http://www.adam.conceptsublime.com/darkelitist/?p=16

Find something that undoubtly interests you. For instance, what is the one thing, or a couple, that totally intrigues you personally to no distinct end?

For me, it took... Uh... (counts)... Well, who cares the amount of years, but it took me many, many failures, and experimenting in different writing genres until I found my niche - historical fiction.

I've spent nearly eight months on a single story; the longest for me. And why have I stuck with it? I love American history, and thus I'm never bored. I'm particualry interested in the Eighteenth Century, so again, I'm never snoozing.

So, to sum up my rambling. If anything else, write about what interests you personally. I mean, isn't that what's writing is about? Writing what we enjoy most?

Best of luck.

Hmm...perhaps I will try NaNoWriMo, when November comes. Its kind of scary I must admit. That's a lot of words. I'll be thinking about a plot now, to prepare myself if I decide to do it.

Knowing what I am interested in would surely be a delightful thing. I don't know, I guess I haven't tried many genres. I should experiment more.

Thank-you, Phorcys, for posting that blog entry. 'Twas helpful, it was.

Lol... I buy myself something small (a book or a CD) whenever I finish a story and post it.

This doesn't happen very often, lol, as I too lack motivation, but it certainly does make me want to write, drags me back to my desk day after day after day... lol, I'm greedy for Russian literature and operas, what can I say?

One of the reasons I was so taken with the idea of co-authoring: the person I work with would keep me on my toes and working. It's hard to make excuses and go, nah, I'll do it tomorrow, when someone's waiting for you to get done.

There are all kinds of little self-b-mod (behaviour modification) techniques that can be helpful. I agree that self-bribing (known as positive reinforcement in b-mod) is really helpful. Fasting may not be the smartest way to go, but saying you will get to have a favourite snack after a certain amount has been done is really helpful. Or you can say, for every ten minutes of TV/video games, you have to spend X amount of time writing. Then, when you finally complete something, give yourself a big reward.

Hmm...perhaps I will try NaNoWriMo, when November comes. Its kind of scary I must admit. That's a lot of words. I'll be thinking about a plot now, to prepare myself if I decide to do it.

I'm the same! I tried to do NaNo but couldn't get a broad enough subject so it was a failure. It IS scary. Er...What I do for writers block is...talk to either Sarah or Sam. You don't know Sarah, but you do know Sam.

So yeah, to cure writers block...TALK TO SAM. Lol. The foolproof method!

No or just someone who is willing to listen and put forth good advice.

You should've READ Sam's nano lastyear, too!!! OMG. I got addicted like Harry Potter.

But I'm weird. I have said this many times.

Those are great ideas.
For me, I am modivated to write by knowing that my parents will keep everyone away while I write and I can finally have some peace. Although that is sort of messed up since I listen to music while I write. For some reason I can't concentrate with my siblings bugging me, but it can't be completly silent either. Must go write now.

I have trouble doing the parts that I don't like, (uh, like, the first chapter). That makes it hard for me to post stuff on here.

Also, worldbuilding scares me. I don't do it. Which is dangerous, right?

Chances are, if you don't like writing the parts you have, it's not good and the reader will hate it. So you have to step back. Ask yourself, why do I have to write this? What makes me uncomfortable? Am I forcing my characters to do something that they would never do in a million years?

I've been having trouble with the latter. I don't force them to do anything they don't want to do, but what ends up happening is I avoid a conflict that is essential for the development of the story. This, of course, makes my characters miserable. Bleah.

So look at it, figure out what you don't like about it, and try to revise it from there. If possible, post it up on YWS and get someone you like to look at it critically for you and give you some feedback.