Motivational Monday

"Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties."

 Bonnie Friedman

These past couple weeks, I've been taking my own advice.  I mentioned not long ago I felt sorta stale, or stagnant with my writing.  That' I'd been revising so long instead of writing something new.  Well, I've been writing new stuff.  And it feels really good.

But, I've learned a couple things I thought I'd share.  And, yes, I knew these things to begin with but sometimes I tend to forget and have to be reminded.

First, I love the way it feels putting words on the page.  Especially good words, words that fit, that tell a story.  I love the creative thought process.  The "what if" and "then what" questions.  I love getting to know new characters and places. 

However, writing is work.  The words don't always come easy and when they don't, it's usually easier to walk away or play some game on the computer than push through the rough spot.  It's so much easier to blame "writer's block" than actually confront why I'm having problems. 

It takes discipline.  I need a word count or page goal.  I need a deadline.  I don't know about you, but I need to be accountable. Sometimes I just have to do the "backside in chair" and write until I get the word count thing.  And you know what, those words are pretty good too.

The most important thing though, I need to make writing a priority.  Writing is important to me and I need to remind myself sometimes.  I need to remind others too, because if it's not important to me, it won't be to them.

And so today, I encourage each of you to make your writing a priority.  Take the time each day to put words on the page.  Set a word count or page goal and then meet and exceed it.  Enjoy the creative, pondering process and be sure to leave out some chocolate for the plot bunnies. :-)