Do you feel uninspired to write? Are you staring at the blank page and wondering if you should even try to write that book?

If that’s you, you’re not alone. All writers feel a little intimidation coming to the blank page.

The truth is… writing is not as easy as it looks.

Sometimes we need to search to find what motivates and inspires us to write.

Every writer is motivated slightly differently.

Exploring what motivates you and what makes you want to create the thing you want to have created — is a wonderful thing to be working on throughout your life.

If you’re motivated externally you might need:

1.To keep track of daily, weekly or monthly word count goals, to give you much needed motivation to finish your book.

2.To keep track of how many pages you write per day, week or month.

Some writers need an external deadline to help them be productive.

This is one of the helpful things about writing groups or having someone cheer you on in your own family.

However you are motivated, that’s great. If it keeps a good work/hobby/fun work-life balance in your life, then it’s good if you can learn to do that consistently. It will serve you well in all aspects of your life.

Some writers are motivated by external consequences.

For example: maybe you have someone you are accountable to with your writing goals.
And if you don’t meet your writing word count that day — you have to email them and tell them you didn’t meet your goal.

And your agreement was that they couldn’t be soft on you. So maybe they reply with — because you didn’t meet your writing goal today, you can’t have your favourite snack or you can’t do that fun thing you always like to do after you’ve finished your day.

Those are all great motivations to write. But, what if for you the lack of inspiration or motivation to write goes much deeper?

Perhaps the thought of opening up your writing document and staring at the blank screen frightens you.

If you feel that way — you are not a fraud and you’re not alone.

So how can you get motivated to write again?

The truth about any writing — is that it’s not all rainbows and lollipops.

There are days when you feel writing is a lot like pulling teeth than fun — and you feel scared that everything you write will be terrible.

I get it.

I feel that way a lot. And from other writers I’ve talked with many of them also face many days when they are unmotivated or uninspired to write — and where they face a fear of the blank page.

So what do you do when you don’t feel motivated to write?

Sit down and write anyway.

You might be hearing the voice of self-doubt that and fear that says this book is going to be no good. No one will want to read it. Why even bother?

If those are thoughts rushing through your mind trying to sap every last morsel of creativity in that beautiful head of yours… don’t listen.

Those thoughts coming in your head are only trying to stop you in your tracks.

This is RESISTANCE — IS SENT TO STOP YOU FROM DOING THE WORK YOU WERE MEANT TO DO AS A WRITER.

Steven Pressfield in his book “The War of Art” writes:

“Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.”

 

I’ve had to learn the process of getting rid of self-doubt and motivating yourself to write.
I shared my own journey in my book for writers titled: Finish Your Book.

I have struggled with feeling good enough to be a writer for years. In fact I stopped writing for over twenty years, because I had a teacher in school who told me my writing was like chicken scratchings.

It wasn’t until I began homeschooling my own children and teaching them how to write stories, that the spark for writing came back.

This time my passion to write was stronger than ever —- and I couldn’t simply let it go. But I needed to learn to be kind to myself in the creativity process — in order to really find that freedom as a writer.

“When we become more loving and compassionate with ourselves and we begin to practice shame resilience, we can embrace our imperfections. It is in the process of embracing our imperfections that we find our truest gifts: courage, compassion, and connection.” ~ Dr. Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

This is a constant learning and growth process for me. It’s a daily practice to tell myself that you can do this and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Go ahead and write this whole book imperfectly… it doesn’t matter. Simply share the story of your heart.

I find that when I have those kinds of heart-to-heart talks with myself that it frees me up on the inside to embrace the story inside of me that’s longing to come out of me and onto the page.

Every writer seems to deal with self-doubt in their own way. To push past their resistance, some writers give themselves a pep talk, some go for a walk, and others find inspiration in books or podcasts.

However, the common theme in dealing with self-doubt, is that successful writers are empowering themselves through valuing themselves and the creativity inside them.

I’ve noticed that they are choosing to believe they are worthy of their writing dreams. They are choosing to embrace vulnerability and are courageous enough to get to the root of their fears and work through them, giving themselves the grace to learn and grow.

Again, Dr. Brene Brown’s research revealed that, exploring our fears and changing our self-talk are two critical steps in overcoming perfectionism.

Turns out that deciding to dig deeper into our own fears, no matter how messy, and choosing to speak positively about ourselves, is how we begin to embrace self-compassion and thereby push past perfectionism.

Lessons that I’ve learned is that speaking about those things we do imperfectly, in a caring and honest way without shame and fear, helps us engage the world from a place of authenticity.

Also, being slow to judge ourselves and others gives us the courage and compassion to treat ourselves as worthy of our creativity and our writing dreams.

Choosing authenticity and self-compassion, helps us as storytellers to live our own truth and see greater possibilities in our own potential.

In this new place of acceptance of ourselves and our mistakes, we have a new enlarged freedom to begin to Charge Up and Level Up in our writing practice everyday.

So when you’re feeling all sorts of insecurity or intimidation or fear around your writing, I want to encourage you to…

1)practice self-kindness and let go of any judgements you have against yourself and your creativity or even forgiving yourself of mistakes from the past.
2) Then with a new and fresh mindset and clean slate — choose to conquer resistance — choose to slay the giant of fear.

Because the truth is as much as writing and creativity is a chore and hard work — there’s also the wonder of it and the unchartered territory that is so exciting to each of us as writers.

We’re like explorers of old gleaning new insights and discovering deep treasures hidden inside our imaginations.
It’s a beautiful thing — being a storyteller. Writing is an amazing gift that truly has unlimited potential as to where it can take you and your readers as you let go… and let your imagination take over.

 

“Creativity is a crushing chore and a glorious mystery. The work wants to be made, and it wants to be made through you.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert

 

So when you are feeling uninspired — remind yourself of the work that wants to be made through you.

Remind yourself of the reasons you want to write this story.

Remind yourself of your dream to be a writer and to write books to share with the world.

Remind yourself of your unique gifts you’ve been given with the written word — and that there’s a specific reason you were given this gift.

Remind yourself that resistance is coming against you so hard… because(like Steven Pressfield says) “Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”

So do it. Sit down and write.

It might seem tedious and boring — but remember that by practising the discipline of writing and facing and overcoming resistance — with each step you are getting closer to finishing that book and you’re getting closer to those dreams you’ve wanted for yourself.

Enjoy the process of creating. Show yourself self-kindness and compassion and find the joy in writing your story.

When you do that, the story will literally flow from your brain to your fingers. Let writing your story — be like playtime like when you were a kid. Have fun and enjoy the process. Just let it flow.

Show up for yourself. Show up for your dreams. Show up for the work that wants to be made through you.

Show up for yourself and write and finish your book.

Pick up your pen and notebook or open your scrivener project or the blank page on your computer and get to work.

You can do this!

I hope that helped you to inspire and motivate you to write.

So have a wonderful month writing and I’ll see you next time.

Happy Writing! 🙂