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This blogpost was originally published as a guest post about the third volume of the 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner for Deborah-Zenha Adams.

5 ways to stay motivated in the new year

The past two years have challenged us all and it can be hard to stay motivated when it feels like the world is coming undone. Below, I share five of the ways I’ve kept my coaching clients motivated during the pandemic.

Know why you write

Knowing the why behind your writing will keep you motivated when the going gets tough. It will also help you decide whether or not certain opportunities are aligned with you.

If you find yourself struggling to finish a writing project, think about the why behind your writing – it helps to write it down somewhere – and how the project you’re struggling with relates to that why. Being reminded of how exactly a project fits your dreams and desires is a great motivator.

Set realistic goals

If you can dream it, you can be it, but it’s difficult to reach your dreams without breaking down your goals.

The smaller the pieces you break your big goals up into, the more attainable they are. The more attainable – and realistic – your goals, the more often you get that dopamine hit that will help you tackle the next goal and move closer towards your dream.

Take breaks to fill your creative well

It’s OK to take breaks from your writing projects, even if you don’t have much time for writing to begin with.

Just make sure you’re intentional about any breaks you’re taking. One of the prompts in Volume II of 52 Weeks of Writing suggests asking the following questions before you step away from your writing:

  1. Why do I need this break?
  2. What are my intentions for this break?
  3. When, where, and how am I going to pick up where I left once I’m back?

Celebrate your achievements

Whether big or small, celebrate all your achievements. Better yet, write down how you’re going to celebrate for each of the goals you’ve set for the year ahead.

Knowing what lies ahead of you, what is to come if you just keep going, is another great way to keep yourself moving forwards. Regular celebrating also stops us from getting stuck in negative, demotivating thought patterns that might ask us what we’re doing it all for and convince us we’re not doing nearly enough.

Find an accountability partner

Find yourself a kindred spirit in the online or offline writing community you can share your goals and dreams with. Someone who gets what you’re dreaming of and understands how you might get in your own way.

It they’re on a similar enough path as you, even better. You can keep each other motivated and accountable as you share your struggles and wins with each other.

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This blogpost was originally published as a guest post about the third volume of the 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner on J. Lynn Rowan.
Disclaimer: I wrote the original post in December 2021. During December 2022, I couldn’t get myself to write down goals beyond the next six months. This is a first for me, and I’m attributing it to having flirted with burnout too often over 2022 and finding my way back to myself after being forced to finally work through some deep-rooted personal issues.
I’m positive I’ll get my groove back eventually and I’ll just write down my long-term goals when I do. Because I’m sticking with the advice given in this post: it’s a really good habit to have.

Starting your writing year on the right foot

It may seem obvious, but I start every year filling in my own author journal and planner. Each volume of 52 Weeks of Writing is undated, so you can start whenever you want, but even before I published it, I was used to plan out the year ahead somewhere during December. That’s why I crack open a copy for personal use at the end of each year.

I’m not saying everyone should buy a copy of 52 Weeks of Writing, that that’s the best way to start your writing year on the right foot. I do want to talk about a planning habit of mine that made it into the journal/planner because I’d been doing it for years already, and with great success.

In 52 Weeks of Writing, during Week 1, I ask you to write down your long-term goals. Where do you see yourself in ten years? Five years? Three years? Two? Where do you see yourself in a year from now? In nine months? Six? Three?

Over the past two years, I’ve often been asked why I ask after long-term goals backwards. Wouldn’t it make more sense to start small and then expand? Well. No. Not in my experience. And that’s because I don’t just believe in setting goals. I believe in setting realistic goals.

I’m very much in favour of dreaming big dreams, but the more unrealistic your goals, the more you’re setting yourself up for failure. And consistent failure is not a great motivator. Consistently achieving your goals, that’s a great motivator. That’s what causes those dopamine hits that’ll keep you moving forwards.

So plan for success, that’s how you start your writing year on the right foot. Planning backwards is helpful here because it makes you ask over and over: ‘So if I want to be there in ten years, where do I need to be in five years’ time? If I want to be there in five years, where do I need to be in three years’ time? And if I want to have achieved that in the next three years, what does that mean for my two-year goals, my one-year goals, etc.?’

Backtracking like this gives you a great sense of whether you’re expecting too much, too little, or exactly the right amount of yourself. Perhaps you see yourself having published ten novels in ten years. As you figure out what your other goals have to be in order to achieve that big ten-year goal by then, you might realise there’s no way you can possibly pull that off, not while, let’s say, working fulltime and are thinking of having another baby.

Maybe you set out to have been published in ten literary magazines over the next ten years. But, as you spell out for yourself what that means for your five-year, three-year, and so on goals, you might come to the conclusion that you could be doing much more with the time you have for writing.

Of course, having ten novels published or having been published in ten literary magazines in the next ten years might be utterly realistic for you. We’re all different, we all want different things from our writing, and we all find ourselves in different circumstances. That’s why this exercise is so useful, because it will demonstrate quickly what can and cannot be realistically done within your specific situation.

As you do the exercise, don’t forget that goals aren’t set in stone. I use goals as guidelines, as something to keep me focused, but I revisit them at least annually to see if anything needs to go or needs to be added.

And whatever goals you set for yourself, don’t forget to celebrate each and every milestone. In 52 Weeks of Writing, I explicitly ask you to write down how you’re going to celebrate each of your goals as you achieve them, because it’s all too easy to ignore the small steps and just keep going. But we wouldn’t reach our big goals without those small steps, and they should be honoured as such.

 

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This blogpost was originally published as a guest post about the third volume of the 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner on The Avid Reader.

You have to find your own way of doing things, by learning how others are doing theirs

There are thousands of books out there on how to write your book, how to publish it, and how to market it. There are thousands of courses too, and webinars, and Facebook groups filled with writers more than willing to tell you what does and doesn’t work.

Which is great! Because none of these steps—writing your book and then finishing it, getting it published, and then figuring out how to sell it—are easy. Quite the contrary. So it’s wonderful that we have so many resources at our disposal.

There is, however, a reason we have so many resources to choose from, and that’s because there as many ways to writing, and to publishing and marketing, as there are writers. If there had been a one-size-fits-all recipe for being a writer, we wouldn’t have so many different books and courses on how to do it.

This doesn’t mean we should ignore this vast library of resources and figure out our own best practices from scratch. There’s a reason seasoned writers share their knowledge and experiences with the rest of us: their way of doing things has brought them success and it might very well inspire us when we read about them.

Some of these writers are highly aware that, just because certain things worked for them, it doesn’t mean they’ll work for others. They understand that each of us has to find our own way. Others do present whatever they’ve learned about writing as universally applicable, and that’s when we, as readers of their work, have to remind ourselves that these writers, too, are talking about their way, not everyone’s way. Because there is no ‘everyone’s way’.

That’s the main lesson I’ve learned since I started to take my writing seriously. Other writers are there to learn from but only insofar as they help us find our own way. If it resonates, we can, and should, follow their advice, we can test their habits for ourselves, we can try out new things, no matter how long we’ve been writing for. We can be entirely eclectic and pick up only those pieces of advice that make sense to us and feel right in that particular moment. Whatever else they’re saying about writing, we can leave it. It might not be for us, or it might not be for us right now.

If this is hard for you and you find yourself wanting to follow some writer’s advice merely because it sounds really good and not because it resonates with you, here are some critical questions you can ask about this resource before making any decisions:

  • What is it about this piece of advice that makes me want to follow it? What does the author promise me about following this piece of advice? Is this a realistic promise?
  • Who is the author? From which social and economic position is this author speaking? Do I have that same social and economic position?
  • What genre(s) does the author talk about? Do I write in the same genre(s)?
  • How long have they been writing for? How many books have they published since the start of their career? Do I have the same level of experience?
  • Does the author acknowledge that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach or is that exactly what they’re trying to sell?

Once you’ve answered these questions, it should be easier to step away from the advice you’ve been given and assess whether it’s the right kind of advice for you and where you are in your writing career. If no, let it go. If yes, test it, try it, and add it to your way of doing things, to your approach to writing.