Motivation for Writers

I thought about putting this under horse stories, but honestly what I'm writing right now doesn't have anything to do with horses.

But I was wondering if there are any other writers out there? I'm trying to fill the gap in my heart after retiring Jake. I'm trying to do that with writing and drawing. The drawing is coming along but the writing is not. I keep finding myself getting stuck and was wondering if other people had tips? I would love to be able to find someone who would like to read and critique and was wondering if someone would want to set up a trade for critique and motivation. I've tried on artists forums but honestly I can't get anyone willing to help me out.

A while ago I had someone that was editing and critiquing and giving me tips and it really kept me going. Then I lost contact with them and I slowly got frustrated and stopped what I was working on.

Now I have several projects that barely get started before I get stuck. I need motivation I'm just not sure how to go about it.

How do you guys set up and build? What do you do when you're stuck?

Whether I'm writing for 'pleasure' or school and am stuck I usually take a walk and then go to a cafe / coffee shop / somewhere and people watch until I get ideas. I can walk 25 minutes to get to Starbucks and sit down there to write and find that that helps a lot.

Thats actually a pretty good idea. I'm currently broke though and I'm pretty sure that going anywhere I will spend the whole time thinking "Oh what I would do for a coffee" Maybe after I get a job. I may try and bring my writing stuff with me to school so I can sit in the quad and write, maybe the change in scenery will help.

I currently am trying to block out a story line and see if that helps. I'm creating my closet doors as a story line and information so hopefully if I get the ideas down I won't have a hard time getting stuck. ;)

I've found that when I get stuck I can get myself out of it if I just sit down and list what I want to write about. I don't worry about details or even if what I'm jotting down makes sense. Just write.

I participated in the National Novel Writing Month last November and managed to write over 50k in 30 days. (Prior to that the most I had written was 14k in 3 months.) Having a deadline looming over really helped force me to sit down and put in the effort. So make goals and deadlines for yourself and stick to them! Start off with small goals that you can easily acheieve, (like 300 words in 15 minutes) and work up to bigger goals (like 2000 words in a day).

Today I actually managed to write 2044 words within 2 hours using that method.

Written Kitten is also a fun website to use for motivation, you set a goal number and when you reach it the website gives you a picture of a kitten as a reward.

Write or die works on a similar concept except it punishes you by making annoying noises when you stop typing.

My last trick is actually the program I use to write, it's called Scrivener and is an amazing tool for writing. It has a lot of features, but I get by with just the basics and wonder how I've ever managed to write without it. It's a little expensive, but you can get a month's trial free to play with. I used the trial during the writing contest and having dedicated software for my writing helped get me excited to write as well.

Anyway -- there's my wall of text for the evening.

Those are some good ideas. I've heard about NaNoWrMo! I've always thought about trying to participate but as I've been so rusty and I haven't given it a go. Maybe this year?

That's a good idea to set goals that would require me to finish. I get so stuck on thinking that I want it to just flow again. If I had a reason to keep going (like a goal) I might not make excuses to put it off. I get distracted so easily as well right now. Finding my writing zone is hard as well. I feel like its a workout and I'm out of shape. ;)

I've heard a lot about scrivener. Sadly I don't have the money right now but it may be a future investment. For now I've been using Jer's Novel Writer, it has a decent data base to store info on characters, setting and items. Anyhow thank you for the reply! I'll take what you said into action. =)