I know, I know. You don’t care. I don’t expect you to. What I am eating for dinner is as interesting to you as what your parents did for a living when you were 12. You come here for creative advice and writing inspiration and pizza has nothing to do with either of those things.
Or does it?
We all have those weeks when all we want to do is stay in our pajamas all day and watch TV. This is one of those weeks for me. It’s been raining all week, I’m feeling burned out, I have to take a midterm exam, there are a lot of things going on that I can’t even talk about. No matter how much of a type A person you are, it is still tempting to let your excuses win. It is just as tempting as the pizza that’s in the oven as I’m writing this.
Excuses, though, don’t get any writing done for us. I have been taught that lesson time and again throughout my life. If I have learned nothing else, it is that in these moments when you have everything to do and no energy or willpower to get it done, you have to find your own motivator. A reward. Something that will be waiting for you at the finish line when you write that final word. Something you cannot have now, but are guaranteed to get when you hit the submit button.
For me, this is pizza. Pizza is my motivator. I am struggling to get things done: I have been all day. But knowing that when I’m done, I can have pizza, has kept me going. Is it fun? Not really. But eating pizza will be. Writing is not always fun. But the satisfaction you feel when you’re done? That’s fun.
You have to find things to keep you going. You have to keep writing even when you don’t want to write. It doesn’t matter how big or how small. Don’t go looking for inspiration. Look for the small things that already exist around you and use them to fuel your work. THAT is how you get writing done. THAT is how you refine your skills. THAT is how you improve.
It may just be pizza to you. But to me, it is my reward. It is a promise I have made to myself and one I fully intend to keep. It is the only thing that is going to get me through the rest of the work I need to do today. And that is enough. Find your enough. Make it work for you, and get writing.
Love&hugs, Meg<3
Image courtesy of Jeremy Keith/flickr.com.
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a freelance writer and an eight-time NaNoWriMo winner with work published in Teen Ink, Success Story, Lifehack and USA TODAY College. Follow Meg on Twitter.
