Stuck in the Middle...

[Monica Poling]

I had a query from a writer who has plenty of ideas about getting started but is looking for advice on sticking with a project. Since this tends to be a particular problem for me as well, I thought I'd open this up to the forum for their comments and thoughts.

When you start a writing project, do you find yourself losing interest or jumping to the next thing midway through? What do you do to motivate yourself to the end? Looking forward to a rousing conversation.

Monica

[Joyce]

Yes! This is a common occurence for me, and it gets very frustrating. When this happens to me, my mind begans to drift off to other scenes that I know are going to take place later on. So. I just began writing about the meat of the scene on a blank sheet of paper, until I am able to regain my focus and start again where I left off.

[Monica Poling]

That's a great piece of advice! Do you ever find yourself just completely abandoning a project and starting on a new one or are you pretty good about finishing most of the pieces you start.

I find I have snippets everywhere. Sometimes I go back and think, oh, that was a good one. And I get remotivated, but it seems I'm starting 10 times more projects than I'm finishing.

[Christopher Scott Silva]

I tend to come up with ideas quickly. I write them down and often have a great start to a story or book. My problem comes later when I get side-tracked by a new and more interesting idea. I try and ensure I finish each piece. I'll often work on more than one at a time, but will push myself to finish each one.

With longer ones I set small goals, e.g. so many words per week or per day.

With magazine articles it's a minimum daily wordcount due to deadlines. With creative writing I use the week method to insure freedom and creativity.

Those are my tips.

Keep writing.

Chris

[Maryanne Raphael]

For ten years I worked on many books at the same time and was frustrated at seeing no results. FInally I got my Mother Teresa book developed enough to get an agent who forced me to work on one book at a time and now I have ten books for sale on Amazon.com Maryanne Raphael

[Amber Stults]

The rewards system seems to work well for me. I don't earn my reward until I've met my goal for the day.

The goal can vary - # of words, end of chapter, or revised # of pages. Rewards can also vary - be time to read, a guilty pleasure tv show, foot massage, etc.
~Amber

[Monica Poling]

That's interesting about the reward system. When I really want something, I give my friend $100 and tell him he gets to keep it if I don't finish my goal by XYZ date. Great motivator, giving away money.

Foot massages are a great reward too though!


Maryanne--

It sounds like you just have to be in the right place to make what you want happen. So glad you made that happen for yourself!

Monica

[Amod]

I tend to work on several different stories or projects at a time, just to keep from getting blocked. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

Also I use a very loose form of writing. I write all the scenes I know for sure will happen in the story - as they come to me. And usually I find I've written the story by the time I'm done pouring all those seemingly random scenes onto the page. Then I just work around this base, filling in the details as a I go... In this way, I'm not too hard on myself for not sticking to an imaginary deadline and I'm astonisgingly more productive.

[jesse garner]

i have the same thing going on with me monica, ill get started on one poem ill get ideas coming in for poems i have down the line,so put that one off for a few days work on those others then come back to the 1st project n most times i have better ideas on how to recreat that 1st poem to begin with thats what works 4 me monica.,

[Theresa]

This is just what I needed this morning. I discovered a few days ago that I'm not the only one who has problems finishing a story.

A few days ago I finished a spreadsheet with my unfinished stories. A bit of an eye opener, I still have some from 1998-1999. A few of them I generously moved into the finished folder, since I am at a stopping point, or don't want to deal with them again. Now I have a good starting point.

I put in when I started the story, and the word count, but a checklist may be all someone else would need.

Thank you for the other suggestions, especially Chris for what goals to set depending on length. I am going to try your method with some new writing as well.

Stay cool.

Theresa

[Monica Poling]

Glad it helped out. I love it that you created a spreadsheet, but how stressful though, to see in black and wihte all the things you haven't finished. That would be too depressing in my world.

[Amber Stults]

I just remembered something I heard in passing without getting tons of detail on it. If you've ever heard of Lea Schizas then you may have heard of it. She keeps rotating 5 disks (probably uses USB thumb drives now) of work to keep making progress on each one. She'll work on one for an hour or two, switch to another one and work on it for an hour or two and so forth.

[Helenita]

Hi there. I am new in this network. I read all the posts here. I have to say that you guys have such wonderful suggestions. I will try them.
Thanks so much!

Helenita