Reading time: About 1 minute

This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world for material to help other writers. Today I discuss a video about the inflatable man…

Writer and blogger Austin Kleon is deeply creative. In a recent 51-second video, he explores the reality of the inflatable man.

I’m sure you’ve seen this guy, somewhere. Also known as a tubeman, a skydancer, an air dancer, and the Noodle Guy, he’s an inflatable stick figure made of fabric tubing attached to a fan. As the fan blows air through it, the tubing moves in a dancing or flailing motion.

The inflatable man draws the attention of drivers and is usually used to advertise retail businesses. But he’s also used within agricultural industries to keep birds away.

Peter Minshall, an artist from Trinidad and Tobago, came up with the concept, and it was developed by a team that included Israeli artist Doron Gazit and Arieh Dranger for the 1996 Summer Olympics.

In Kleon’s charming YouTube video, the inflatable man is an unworthy attention stealer. “He’s all over the place, but he ain’t going nowhere,” Kleon’s script says. “He’s got no spine, nothing holding him up.

I wanted to see the 114-word, 51-second script as a critique of social media. The punchline says: “All he wants is your attention, but when you give it to him, you realize there’s nothing there. He’s empty inside. Nothing but hot air. Take a minute of your life to watch it now.

Viewing time: 4 mins 46 secs

The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #164, which addresses the value of daily writing. The post first ran on Nov. 20/20.

Transcript:

What’s the value of daily writing? That’s the topic I’m addressing today in The Write Question. I’m Daphne Gray-Grant, the Publication Coach, still in pandemic mode.

I have a question from Monique LaSalle, a  professor based in Montreal, Canada. Here’s what she’s asked by email….

“What do you say to students who think they can only write productively in long spurts of time? Many of my students believe that it’s the ONLY way they can write! How do you convince them of the value of daily writing?”

Thanks for your question, Monique. In my experience, students don’t learn much if you just tell them something. You need to show them the value of what you’re proposing. 

So here’s what I suggest you do. Have your students download the writing tracking form from my website — it’s free! See link in the show notes below. Then, ask them to record their writing time and the number of words they write every day for one week, writing for as long as they want. AFTER THAT, ask them to do the same record-keeping for one more week. But this time, tell them they should write for no more than 30 minutes per day. They should also devote an equal amount of time to researching and planning.

After they’ve done this two-week comparison, ask them which system allowed them to produce the greatest number of words. And ask them which system made them feel better and more enthusiastic about writing.

I’m certain the vast majority will be more productive with the smaller amount of time. There are five important reasons for this:

1. They will be more efficient because their time is short. Have any of your students ever caught themselves sitting and staring at a blank screen like zombies? They do this because they don’t know what to write next. But if they have a time limit, they won’t allow themselves to get stuck in this sticky wicket. Think about how breathtakingly efficient we all become when preparing to leave on holiday: We work quickly; we do only the most essential stuff. Your students will benefit by approaching writing with the same time-limited mindset. In fact, I think this is why so many students don’t start their essays until the night before they are due. They want the situation to FORCE them into working quickly.
2. The short deadline will stop them from procrastinating. People don’t procrastinate because they are lazy. They procrastinate because the job they need to do seems too big, overwhelming or painful. By spending less time on the project each day, they are going to be making it a whole lot less intimidating. As a result, they’re less likely to procrastinate about it.
3. They won’t run the risk of burning themselves out. While they may produce 1,000 words on one of their red-hot writing sessions, they’ll quickly discover that they’ll feel tired and worn out the next day and maybe even the day after that. But if they were to write 200 words every day for a week, they’d have 1,000 words by Friday!
4. Writing for a short amount of time will appeal to their inner two-year olds. If your students dislike writing (or even if they just feel ambivalent about it) having a time limit will suddenly make the work seem much more attractive.
5. They’ll have time to do other things. If your students insist on spending eight hours a day writing, they won’t have time for exercise, for listening to music and for chatting with friends – all of the things that make life worthwhile. Writing is a creative act and to do it we need to get energy from activities other than working.

Finally, let me wrap up with a quote from the fantasy writer Jane Yolen: 

“Exercise the writing muscle every day…Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.”

Monique, it’s hard to convince students of anything new, especially something that might feel counterintuitive to them. Try to do your persuading by helping the students figure out for themselves what will make them most productive. Or maybe, ask them to watch this video!

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If you’d like to learn more about how to make writing a happier and more rewarding process, check out my latest book Your Happy First Draft. I don’t sell it in bookstores or via Amazon. The only place to buy it is on my website, link on the screen below and in the show notes.  

Links 

Writing tracking form (MS Word & PDF)

Your Happy First Draft

Reading time: Just over 1 minute

I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes from David Bezmozgis…

Born in Latvia, David Bezmozgis is a writer and filmmaker based in Toronto. In the summer of 2010, he was included in The New Yorker‘s “20 Under 40” issue, celebrating the twenty most promising fiction writers under the age of forty. Over the years, he has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, a Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library, and a Radcliffe Fellow.

I just finished his most recent collection of short stories, Immigrant City, and I put down the book feeling impressed. Told with sharp humour and a discerning eye, the stories explore a variety of immigrant experiences.

David Bezmozgis also makes superb use of figurative language. Here are my favourite examples:

• By the last stop the train had nearly emptied out, leaving few representatives of white privilege. Those who remained looked pallid and desiccated, as if they’d been too weak to flee with the others.
• People were always offering writers their stories, I thought. But those were rarely the stories writers wanted. Those stories were looked at as children who always raised their hands in class. Good stories didn’t raise their hands.
• Our elevator arrived; the heavy metal doors enacted their grim choreography.
• Through my visor I looked at the Armenian poet and playwright, who now seemed crisper, better articulated, as when the correct lens is snapped into place at the optometrist’s.
• The heart barks like a dog.
• It was as if some primordial, Jewish boy-face had surfaced with time, rounding and softening features, imbuing a fatherly, grandfatherly, even ancestral lachrymosity as from the headwaters of the biblical patriarchs.
• He never had a cellphone, and my mother, aunt and uncle called him routinely. If he didn’t answer, nodes of panic would aggregate like birds on a roof and occasionally erupt in a spasm of flapping.
• All of which probably didn’t bode well for the man in handcuffs, who sat in the prisoner’s dock looking not so much like a criminal but rather like a weary commuter waiting for the train.
• His neck and his ankles were thin, and he was pale in the manner of someone who is either very sick or very spartan.

[Photo credit: Dan Harasymchuk. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.]

An earlier version of this post first appeared on my blog on Nov. 7/19.

Reading time: About 2 minutes

Sarah Boon warns that writing a thousand words a day is no guarantee of a book by year’s end…

Sarah Boon is a freelance writer and editor. She has published essays, book reviews, author interviews, and articles in a range of magazines and journals, including Science, Nature, Longreads, Flyway Journal, Electric Literature, and others. She trained as an environmental scientist and held a tenured position in physical geography before returning to her writing and editing roots.

I was excited to talk to Sarah Boon about how she approaches writing. 

Q. Roughly how much time do you spend writing every day?

One to two hours when I can.

Q. What’s a simple activity or habit that makes you a better writer?

Journalling. It opens up my mind to new ideas and I often find I come up with solutions to particularly gnarly issues in the pieces I’m working on.

Q.  What interferes with your writing?

My mental illness. On many days I just can’t write, or one hour feels really long because I don’t have the capacity to write. Some days I just have to say, “no, today is not a writing day.”

Q.  How do you persuade yourself to sit down to write on days when you really, really DON’T feel like doing it?

I think about the days I can’t write because of my illness, and decide that I need to make the most of the time I have to write. I need to get my butt in the chair and get to work while I can!

Q. Is there a particular motto or saying that you’ve found helpful for writing?

One year for Christmas, my nephew sent me a framed photo that said “write” in his childish handwriting. I keep it by my desk and look at it regularly. It’s very motivating. Another saying that helps me goes something like “You’re going to be living, anyway, so why not spend that time writing?”

Q. Which stage of the writing process do you enjoy the most: researching, writing or editing/rewriting and why?

I enjoy research and editing. I love reading books for research that transport me into the life of the author (I read a lot of memoirs and narrative nonfiction) and that spark something in my mind. And I enjoy editing because it’s so satisfying when you work hard on a paragraph or section that’s been eluding you and suddenly it clicks! It feels like magic. Writing is hard. I don’t mind it, but I have to say I enjoy researching and editing better.

Q. What’s one of the best books you’ve read (either fiction or non) in the last five years? 

First, James Bridle’s Ways of Being. A thoroughly engaging read about humans, computers, ecology, AI, and more. He has a particular way of braiding these topics together that you have to read it twice (or more times) to get it all. Next, Owls of the Eastern Ice, by Jonathan C. Slaght. It’s a fascinating narrative nonfiction book about his PhD fieldwork in Russia studying the Blakiston Fish Owl. Along the way he meets eccentric characters and encounters strange Russian traditions, all described in close detail. You feel as though you’re travelling with him across the remote lands of eastern Russia. Finally, Melissa Sevigny’s Brave the Wild River. It’s the forgotten story of two women who rafted the Grand Canyon in the 1950s to do a botanical survey of the area. Based on archival letters, journal entries, and more, it’s an exhilarating and fast-paced story that brings you into the action so you feel like you’re actually on the river with them.

Q. What book are you reading right now?

I’m reading Double Bind, an anthology edited by Robin Romm, about women and ambition, with essays from Roxane Gay and others. I’m finding it highly relevant to my situation—and that of many other women, and very applicable to my next book. I’m also reading Thirty Below, by Cassidy Randall, about an all-women team that summited Denali in 1970. It’s a fascinating look at the sexism inherent in the climbing community back then (which hasn’t changed much), the sheer physical and mental toughness needed to climb a mountain, and the relationships you have to build with your climbing team so that you can handle tough situations as a group.

Q. What do you think is the biggest misperception that new writers have about the act of writing?

That if you sit down and write a thousand words a day, you’ll have a book by the end of the year. They forget that those won’t be a thousand perfect words, but just words. You’ll have to take time to edit them and massage them into a coherent whole. You’ll have to rewrite, and rewrite again. So there goes your one-year book.

Sarah Boon blogs at Watershed Notes and lives and works on southern Vancouver Island, the traditional unceded territory of the Quwut’sun people.

Reading time: About 3 minutes

Do you think your writing would improve if only you could become more creative? Here are seven ways to boost your creativity….

We’ve never had pets in our household. Although I’d dearly love a cat, my husband is highly allergic to animal dander — and the thought of a hairless cat (pictured adjacent) strikes me as creepy rather than comforting.

Truth told, however, our children felt the pet absence more profoundly. When they were still young enough to want to go hiking with us, they’d pick up slugs, carry them and name them. Mom and dad couldn’t supply a pet, so they’d find one of their own.

I always thought this illustrated one of the best things about kids — their deep wells of creativity.

Whenever someone tells me they’re not “creative” enough to write, I want to beg them to remember their childhood. We are all born creative. Some of us just lose it faster than others.

Here are seven tips to rediscover your own creativity.

1-Become an expert. I know, I know, an expert sounds like the polar opposite of a creative person. You’ve been picturing Beethoven, and I give you an engineer. But think about it: Someone who is creative joins things they already know into new and unexpected arrangements. By having a rich understanding of a particular subject, you’re in a better position to think of creative ideas. Make sure you really know what you’re writing about.

2-Brainstorm. For writers, one of the best possible ways to be more creative is by mindmapping, or as I like to call it, “brainstorming with yourself.” Mindmapping is fast, visual and fun. It’s the closest thing to a cure-all for writers I’ve ever found.

3-Don’t just sit at your desk. Sitting and staring at the computer screen until beads of blood form on your forehead is no way to create. Go! For a walk. For a run. Even out for a coffee. Sitting is toxic to creative thought. Get moving. Now!

4-Ask questions. Have you ever noticed how smart people are never afraid to ask “stupid” questions? In fact, there is no such thing as a stupid question. There are only people too stupid (too afraid, really) to ask it. When you’re interviewing someone, the stupider the question, the better. I frequently ask subjects to talk to me like I’m a 10-year-old. That often makes them smile, and it encourages them to get rid of the jargon and tell me stories.

5-Try different perspectives. Maltese writer Edward de Bono argued the human brain thinks in several distinct ways — not all of which are natural to every person. In his marvelous book Six Thinking Hats he presents six systematic ways in which you can challenge your brain.

1. Red hat (emotional): What do your feelings tell you?
2. White hat (objective): What are the facts?
3. Yellow hat (positive): What do you know will work?
4. Black hat (negative): What do you know won’t work?
5. Green hat (creative): What are some alternative ideas?
6. Blue hat (broad perspective): What’s the best overall solution?

6-Challenge any negativity. We like to think that working better will make us happy. But, instead, the opposite is true: when we’re happy we work better. If you want to be more creative, try to make yourself happier first. You might do this by listening to some music, reading a good book or meditating. Do whatever it takes to reduce or eliminate negative thoughts or self-criticisms.

7-If at first you don’t succeed, take a break… Getting access to your creativity takes effort, but it needn’t feel like the grim repetition of banging your head against a brick wall. If you keep running into roadblocks, then stop driving and try again when the roads are clear.

Creativity cannot be “ordered” to perform. It appears on its own terms when it has a welcoming audience. As long as you keep inviting it, creativity will eventually return.

If you liked this post, you’ll also like Is stress killing your creativity?

An earlier version of this post first appeared on my blog on Jan. 29/13.

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Need some help developing a better, more sustainable writing or editing routine? Learn about my three-month accountability program called Get It Done. There is turn-over each month, and priority will go to those who have applied first. You can go directly to the application form and you’ll hear back from me within 24 hours. 

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My video podcast last week addressed how to deal with perfectionism. You can watch the video or read the transcript, and you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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How do you boost your creativity? We can all learn from each other, so please, share your thoughts with my readers and me in the comments section, below. If you comment on today’s post (or any others) by April 30/25, I’ll put you in a draw for a digital copy of my first book, 8 1/2 Steps to Writing Faster, Better. To enter, please scroll down to the comments, directly underneath the related posts links, below. You don’t have to join Disqus to post! Read my tutorial to learn how to post as a guest. (It’s easy!)

Reading time: Just over 1 minute

This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about the writing habits of Daniel Levitin…

Like many writers, I love reading about the habits of ultra-successful writers.

Perhaps I can learn trick or two, I think. Maybe the strategy that Margaret Atwood/Stephen King/Zadie Smith uses will work for me.

The concept of imitating the masters is smart, I think. Even though it tends to negate the reality that we’ll all different people and each of us has unique motivators.

Still even if we don’t learn anything useful, it’s always good entertaining to read about how others deal with their own writing habits.

A website called Writing Routines offers a once-a-week look at the lives and habits of writers. They once visited with Daniel Levitin (pictured above), a musician, neuroscientist and writer who is well known for his bestselling book This is Your Brain on Music.

I particularly liked the way he answered the opening question of the post — about the when and where of his writing. Here is what he said:

My routine is that I get up early, usually around 5:30 am, take a shower, and then I go right to my writing—wherever I am. Whatever I’m working on, I need to allow myself to become fully immersed in it. I can’t put too fine a point on it, but even minor distraction is the enemy of productivity and creativity for me.

I’ve learned not even to open my email until I’ve written for at least two hours straight first thing in the morning. By the way that shower is a great idea generator—the hot water spraying my head, the solitary and comforting space—I usually solve some kind of creative problem during my morning shower and then get right to it.

Like many successful writers, Daniel Levitin writes at one end of the daytime spectrum (early morning or late at night) and he has also discovered the creative benefits of the very hot shower.

An earlier version of this post first appeared on my blog on Nov. 9/20.

[Photo credit: Cropped. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.]

Viewing time: 5 mins 42 secs

The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #163, which addresses how to deal with perfectionism in writing. The post first ran on Nov. 13/20.

Transcript: 

How can you deal with perfectionism? That’s the topic I’m addressing today in The Write Question. I’m Daphne Gray-Grant, the Publication Coach, still in pandemic mode.

I have a question from Nan Woody, a student based in Tirana, Albania. Here’s what she’s asked by email….

“I face four big issues when it comes to writing. Panic: I feel as though I will never finish my paper. Perfectionism: I want my writing to be perfect (even though I know that no one else is perfect, and I am a human being like everyone else.) Impostor syndrome: I keep asking myself what I’m doing here. Lack of confidence: I don’t trust my results, and I trivialise my work all the time. Can you give me any advice that will help?”

Thanks for your questions, Nan. I don’t know if this will help, but the vast majority of grad students I work with feel exactly the same way.

It’s also interesting that the four points you mention —panic, perfectionism, imposter syndrome and lack of confidence— are so clearly related to each other.

In fact, to me, all your problems stem from the same root — perfectionism.

Think about it! Panic comes from perfectionism, because you know you can never be perfect. In fact, you made that point in your question to me. Imposter syndrome comes from perfectionism because you feel fake. Why? Because you’re not perfect, of course! Lack of confidence comes from perfectionism because you want to be perfect and you’re not.

So, I strongly suggest you address your perfectionism, and I think those other problems will fall by the wayside. Here are seven tips for you:

1- Recognize that perfectionism is a problem

Something about the word “perfect” sounds delightful to the human ear. What could be better than perfect? But that idea is a trap. When you expect perfection, you’re setting an unhealthy standard that’s both self-defeating and demoralising. Keep reminding yourself that good enough is, in fact, good enough!

2- Create more realistic goals for yourself

Replace your perfectionistic expectations with ones that you can actually achieve. And pay attention to what you CAN do rather than factors you can’t control. For example, you have no power over whether your prof gives you an A. But you CAN finish the first draft of your paper five days early, so you have plenty of time for editing. 

3- Be aware that a first draft will never be any good

Some of my clients feel despair that their writing is no good. Here’s what I tell them: NO ONE’S first draft is any good, not even Stephen King’s or Margaret Atwood’s. All professional writers understand that writing is an iterative process. Your work will improve with each draft, so your main challenge is to produce the first draft as quickly as possible so you have plenty of time for editing.

4- Challenge your inner critic

Our inner critics love to give us a bad time. They tell us we’re no good, that we’re imposters and that everyone else is much more successful and talented. Even super-successful writers like Maya Angelou (see link below) felt this way. Understand that this is just talk with no evidence. Tell your inner critic to take a hike!

5- Stop yourself from multitasking

Multitasking, where you try to do more than one thing at a time, is endemic among students. They not only try to juggle texting and writing or Facebooking and writing, but they also try to manage researching while writing or editing while writing. Resolve that you will NOT allow yourself to go down this troubled path. Multitasking is stressful and will cause you to make more mistakes. Do just one thing at a time. When you write, write. When you edit, edit. You’ll be a much happier person — and a better writer — that way.

6- Stop procrastinating

Don’t wait for the perfect moment to start your next essay. Instead, begin it immediately — as soon as you get the assignment. You will be empowered by taking action, and you’ll get more done.

7- Understand that time off is not time wasted

Many people who suffer from perfectionism drive themselves so hard that they refuse to take time off or do anything fun at all. This is always a mistake. But if this attitude describes you, I encourage you to read the book The Now Habit by Neil Fiore (see link in the show notes.) Fiore presents a delightful plan for something he calls an unschedule. I think you’ll find it very helpful.

Finally, let me wrap up with a quote from the writer and marketer Ryan Holiday:

“Perfectionism rarely begets perfection, or satisfaction — only disappointment.”  

Nan, perfectionism is a soul-sucking habit. Take steps to fight it immediately. Embracing your own imperfection will be the best favour you can do for yourself.

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If you’d like to learn more about how to make writing a happier and more rewarding process, check out my latest book Your Happy First Draft. I don’t sell it in bookstores or via Amazon. The only place to buy it is on my website, link on the screen below and in the show notes. 

Links

Maya Angelou’s imposter syndrome

The Now Habit by Neil Fiore

Your Happy First Draft

Reading time: About 1 minute

I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from Rachel Kushner….

Rachel Kushner is an American writer, currently living in Los Angeles. Her fourth and most recent novel (2024), Creation Lake, was long-listed for the National Book Award for fiction and short-listed for the Booker Prize.

While I found the story — about a freelance spy who works to undermine environmental activists — to be both frustrating and not as interesting as it should have been, I found Kushner’s writing to be remarkable.

Kushner has an acute eye and ear for both simile and metaphor. Here are my favourite examples from her book:

• The air was damp and warm and close, like human breath.
• The rain had left enormous puddles that were the tint of milk chocolate, their surface silk-screened in sky.
• The hills above Vantôme were scattered with bald areas, like the scalp of someone with an autoimmune condition.
• I was driving with an animal liberation activist in my passenger seat, a freckle boy aged twenty-three with a fringe of fluffy read beard-hair attached to his jawline like drapery tassel.
• Lucien and I took the TGV from Gare de Lyon to Marseille, riding backward in a swaying first-class train car a canister of modern French technology tearing through French countryside at three hundred kilometers an hour, farmers and rolling hills and little medieval villages being pulled backward as if by a monster vacuum cleaner was sucking the landscape into its unseen mouth.
• Platon also berated his assigned driver, an older man with a jaundiced complexion and hooded eyes that were the blue of mentholated cough drops.
• A woman with platinum upswept hair and diamond earrings sat eating French fries, daubing each slender fry in ketchup as if dipping a sable brush into a dollop of red paint.
• The rosé was delicate and fruity, crisp as ironed linen.
• It [a heron] took sideways steps, its large beak like gardening shears holding the gopher.
• As I walked, the high sun illuminated uncanny colors in the limestone, colors so vibrant and bright they looked artificial. Some areas were lavender but patterned with lichen that was gold-bright, like ground turmeric. Other lichens were creamy white and stretched along the rock face like embroidery.

Reading time: About 2 minutes

Jasmine Ruff says that writers shouldn’t fixate on form. She says she’s seen mediocre fiction writers become brilliant poets and vice versa….

Jasmine Ruff is a queer writer living in Vancouver —  the ancestral and unceded lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples. Her writing has been published in the Ex-Puritan, Foglifter, Plenitude, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.

I was excited to talk to Jasmine about how she approaches writing. 

Q. Roughly how much time do you spend writing every day?

I think of my writing more on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis. I have a four-day work week, so I usually have one day where I can dedicate a few quality hours to writing and then the rest of the week I’m lucky to catch fifteen minutes here or there. However, I consider reading to be part of the work of writing and I usually read every day.

Q. What’s a simple activity or habit that makes you a better writer?

Therapy.

Q. What interferes with your writing?

Drama.

Q. How do you persuade yourself to sit down to write on days when you really, really DON’T feel like doing it?

I get into bed with a cup of coffee and the treat aspect of that motivates me to get started.

Q. Is there a particular motto or saying that you’ve found helpful for writing?

The other day the Paris Review posted a James Baldwin quote that resonated with me: “You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal.”

Q. Which stage of the writing process do you enjoy the most: researching, writing or editing/rewriting and why?

I love the research/dreaming phase when everything about the idea seems shiny and exciting, but I also like when I’ve been working on a project for so long I can finally see the cracks.

Q. What’s one of the best books you’ve read (either fiction or non) in the last five years? 

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis. A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins.

Q. What book are you reading right now?

I’m reading two books at the moment—in part because I always have an audiobook on the go and something on my kindle. So right now, I’m listening to The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

Q. What do you think is the biggest misperception that new writers have about the act of writing?

That you need to stick with the form you began writing in. I’ve seen mediocre fiction writers become brilliant poets and vice versa. I think experimenting with other forms only makes one a strong writer—and sometimes one finds a new and unexpected home.

You can find Jasmine Ruff on twitter and instagram @jasmineruff411.

Reading time: About 4 minutes

Here is a long list of hacks to help you increase your writing motivation so that it really supports you….

Have you heard of the national competition that challenges people to write a novel in 30 days, NaNoWriMo?

I haven’t participated. But I have written and published two books — one shortish (roughly 40,000 words) and one standard length (70,000 words) — and I understand how easily our energy can falter when we’re mired in a Really Big Writing Project.

It may be a cliché, but writing something long is a marathon and not a sprint. We need to train ourselves to do it and accept that this training requires time and effort.

Here are 11 ways to support your writing motivation when tackling a project of 40,000 words or more.

1-Set small daily goals

With large projects, the deadline often stretches far into the future, like a boat on the distant horizon. This makes it challenging to feel motivated today.

Working only irregularly forces us to spend significant energy reacquainting ourselves with the material every time we open the file.

Instead, commit to spending a small amount of time (between five and 30 minutes) on your massive project every day. You’ll stay familiar with it this way, and your regular progress will help keep your spirits buoyed up.

2-Mindmap before writing

If you’re familiar with my work, you’ll know I’m a passionate advocate for mindmapping. (For guidelines, see an index of all my posts about it.) That said, there’s more than one type of mindmapping, and the one I recommend for long projects is a planning mindmap.

This sort of mindmap takes longer to complete than the daily, inspirational ones I typically promote, but it will help you organize your entire project and create a realistic plan for finishing it.

3- Write early in the day

I have worked with thousands of writers over 45 years, and I’ve observed most of us find it easier to protect our morning hours rather than our afternoon ones. We generally have more energy in the morning, better moods (the dog hasn’t escaped and the teenager hasn’t crashed the car) and clearer minds.

Write for at least five minutes as soon as you can in the morning, avoiding news, social media and email until you’ve done it. Even seemingly urgent matters can always wait for those five minutes.

4-Understand that only writing produces text

Many of us talk a good game about our writing. We’re happy to discuss the concepts we’ve developed, the research we’ve read and the flawed ideas others have proposed.

But serious writers don’t talk much about their works-in-progress.

When we talk about our ideas, our brains can trick us into feeling like we’ve already communicated them, making the actual writing seem redundant and too difficult.

Remember this simple truth: only writing produces text.

5-Always track your word count

I’m consistently surprised by writers who can’t tell me exactly how many words they’ve written for their book, dissertation or report.

This is like trying to lose weight without knowing how much you weigh now. Or taking a trip without knowing the distance to your destination. Or planning a dinner party without knowing how many people will attend.

Keep your writing numbers top of mind — know how many words you’ve written and how many you have left to write. I offer a free progress chart on my website. Please download it and use it.

6-Recognize that your first draft will be a hot mess

Do you sabotage yourself by believing your first draft must be perfect? This misconception only holds you back. Instead, embrace what I call the “crappy first draft.”

First drafts shouldn’t be of high quality. They’re meant to be edited. Later.

7-Show persistence

Writing demands both creativity and self-criticism. These two modes of thought use different parts of the brain and often conflict with each other.

The creative part (writing the first draft) should be fun and fast. The self-criticism part will take longer and, for many people, will feel more tedious.

To succeed, you’ll need to develop persistence. Editing demands tolerance for long hours, difficult decisions and self-doubt. Yes, it’s challenging, but understand it’s something all writers need to face.

8-Take care of your physical and mental well being

When we’re caught up in a project, it’s easy to neglect our health. Here are six important questions to ask yourself:

• Am I getting enough sleep each night?
• Am I eating healthy food that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables?
• Am I getting daily exercise? (Walking counts!)
• Am I remembering to breathe?
• Am I getting enough social time with friends?
• Am I experiencing enough “art” — books, movies, music, visual art?

Don’t put self-care “on hold” while writing. It’s what gives you the fuel to write.

9-Balance external and internal writing motivation

When we start on a long writing project, payoffs like better job prospects, the possibility of getting more clients, receiving more public recognition or earning money may drive us. But these eventually become less effective.

That’s why developing internal motivators is crucial — curiosity, a passion for your topic, wanting to contribute to your field or becoming a more skillful writer. Shifting to these internal motivators can keep you energized for a longer time.

10-Always prepare for the next day’s writing

The hardest part of writing? Facing the blank page every day.

But you can get around this problem if you give yourself clear direction.

After finishing writing each day, spend five minutes planning tomorrow’s work. Jot down notes about the topic or area you’ll cover next. Bullet points work perfectly.

Doing this exercise directly after you’ve finished writing for the day means your mind will already be on the project, making planning easier. And the next morning? Instead of a blank page, you’ll have instructions about what to do next.

11-Practice self-compassion

Accept it: in any project of 40,000+ words, you’ll make mistakes. Emotional resilience — the ability to recover from challenges — is essential. Writing inevitably triggers self-doubt, frustration and fear. Developing resilience means recognizing these emotions, accepting them and finding healthy coping mechanisms. Liberal doses of self-compassion will help.

The effort is worth it

Remember that completing a large writing project isn’t just about reaching the finish line — it’s about who you become as a writer and a person.

Each day you show up at the keyboard, you’re not just adding words to your manuscript; you’re developing discipline, creativity and resilience. The struggles you overcome and the habits you build while writing 40,000+ words create a foundation for future success.

So when writing motivation wanes (and it will), remind yourself that this journey is transforming you into not just a better writer, but a more focused, determined and accomplished person. Your future self will thank you for persevering through today’s challenges.

If you liked this post, you’ll also like 17 tips for how to deal with overwhelm.

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Need some help developing a better, more sustainable writing or editing routine? Learn about my three-month accountability program called Get It Done. There is turn-over each month, and priority will go to those who have applied first. You can go directly to the application form and you’ll hear back from me within 24 hours.

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My video podcast last week described how to write sentences with more impact. You can watch the video or read the transcript, and you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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What writing motivation hacks have you used successfully? We can all learn from each other, so please, share your thoughts with my readers and me in the comments section, below. If you comment on today’s post (or any others) by April 30/25, I’ll put you in a draw for a digital copy of my first book, 8 1/2 Steps to Writing Faster, Better. To enter, please scroll down to the comments, directly underneath the related posts links, below. You don’t have to join Disqus to post! Read my tutorial to learn how to post as a guest. (It’s easy!)