Motivation

For those of you who’ve read some of my previous blogs, you may or may not know that I have a day job. My day job is nothing like my night job of writing. Not a whole lot of creative license (although I work it in when I can), simply a lot of numbers and a lot of strategic thinking. Still, both jobs have one very important necessity in common: motivation.

My day job requires a couple different types of motivation. Not only do I need to motivate myself, but I also need to keep my direct reports engaged and motivated to work. My night job, however, seems to have motivation in abundance. From the moment my little one goes to sleep, I am ready to crank out several paragraphs, pages, or just whatever comes to mind. But what’s behind this you ask? I write because I simply love to tell stories. Even if I weren’t publishing my works, I’d probably still write to share with my family or just to have for myself. As with many writers, I’ll also admit that writing is something I need to do. If you’ve ever joined writer’s loop or group, you’ll often here writers say that they “hear” characters all the time. This is completely true. If I don’t write, my mind fills up with stories, scene shots and characters voices.

Motivation is not to be confused with inspiration. You can be motivated but uninspired or vice versa. So why is motivation necessary? Quite simply, if you’re not motivated to write or work, you probably shouldn’t be doing it. This of course is easier said than done because many times the work we do that doesn’t motivate us is work we can’t afford to avoid.

What about you all, what motivates you? And why?

Happy writing this week!

Filed under: Writer's Life