#MotivatedWriter Series ~ How to Stay Motivated to Write

How to stay motivated to write.

If you'd begun writing you'll soon realize that your mind will wander in a million directions. If you haven't given yourself permission to write you're going to be thinking of the dishes in the sink and the clothes in the washer.  Make sure your writing time is important to you and that will help motivate you.

Another key factor in writing is reading. Yep! You need to read to write. Now, I say this from experience. While writing my first book when I was much, much younger, I stopped reading. My purpose was because I didn't want to accidentally steal anything. But the truth is reading other writers only encouraged my creativity. Think about it...when you were younger and you danced until your heart was content you'd follow along at some point, right. It didn't make your dance any less yours. There are only so many story lines and so many words. It's how you string them together.

Think about how music moves you to work out, or dance, or sing at the top of your lungs. That creative spark sparks another. Reading is much the same.

A less popular method of keeping motivated (this is usually by newer writers) is share your work. Find someone who is so enthusiastic about reading what you've wrote and share it with them. Their enthusiasm will spark yours. I'm not talking a critique partner either. I'm talking someone who just loves what you do. It might take some guts to find that person, but I tell you it's worth it.

Again, journal everyday. I'm not saying you need to even journal your trip to the store. However, there is something in everyday. Look up writing prompts on Google. There are tons of them and they will spark your creativity a little bit. We can all use that.

Create a blog. Everyone is an expert in something. Yes, even you can write a blog about something. Heck, Sienfield had an entire show about nothing--and that was the tag line! Create a blog calendar and search how to create blog content. It may not be a book, but it is keeping you writing.

The best way to keep motivated is to have a goal. Do you want to publish in magazines or write books? Are you going to submit to a big house, small house, or self-publish? If you're working with publishing houses you're going to be under contract to do certain things with your writing. A contract certainly motivates you!

Motivating yourself to write will NEVER come easily. After 22 books published I still have to convince myself that I have to sit and write and not just mess around with it. Those dishes aren't going anywhere. They'll be there when I'm done. Writing is important to me. Luckily it pays my bills. So that is one motivating factor. The other is that I crave it and love it. Be true to yourself. That might be all the motivation you need.

Author Bernadette Marie is known for building families readers want to be part of. Her series The Keller Family has graced bestseller charts since its release in 2011, along with her other series and single title books. The married mother of five sons promises Happily Ever After always…and says she can write it, because she lives it. 

When not writing, Bernadette Marie is shuffling her sons to their many events—mostly hockey—and enjoying the beautiful views of the Colorado Rocky Mountains from her front step. She is also an accomplished martial artist with a second degree black belt in Tang Soo Do.

A chronic entrepreneur, Bernadette Marie opened her own publishing house in 2011, 5 Prince Publishing, so that she could publish the books she liked to write and help make the dreams of other aspiring authors come true too.

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