Most creators think motivation is something you find, like it’s hiding behind the Marmite in your kitchen cupboard, and if you just read enough books or watch enough videos, you’ll finally locate it.
Too many folks still romanticize writing, like genius is supposed to just dribble from your fingers to the screen after you are inspired by your Muse and sit down in your perfectly curated writing space.
It's craft and pain and repetition and sucking and being great and being bad and then doing it all over again. This goes for pretty much whatever reason you're writing -- self expression, marketing (that'd be me), selling your written words, whatever.
Biggest motivation I've found over the years is my checking account.
There's freedom through scheduling too. Your "Too many choices" is spot on. You can't do it all and when you're trying to choose from a laundry list of things you "could" write, it's easy to go down the paralysis by analysis path and end up doing nothing.
Too many folks still romanticize writing, like genius is supposed to just dribble from your fingers to the screen after you are inspired by your Muse and sit down in your perfectly curated writing space.
It's craft and pain and repetition and sucking and being great and being bad and then doing it all over again. This goes for pretty much whatever reason you're writing -- self expression, marketing (that'd be me), selling your written words, whatever.
Biggest motivation I've found over the years is my checking account.
There's freedom through scheduling too. Your "Too many choices" is spot on. You can't do it all and when you're trying to choose from a laundry list of things you "could" write, it's easy to go down the paralysis by analysis path and end up doing nothing.
Starting is always the toughest part. For that, you need to make room for that blank page, which is why so many of us stall anew, day after day.
Thank you Alex for this. I was inspired.