"What do you do to keep yourself motivated when you feel like you're not making an progress in your writing career?"
My carrot -- sweet, orange, crunchy, and homegrown, yet as common as they come -- is to make my living as a fiction writer. To be able to do that work from anywhere, so long as I can email the product to agent and editor. To make connections with readers young and old and in between. To attain, over and over, the satisfaction of putting the flesh of story on the bones of an idea.
When I flag, I remind myself of those things: independence, mobility, connectivity, and wonder.
That's not to say it always works. I've had a project go on submission to editors twice, and have struggled to work on something else during those periods. I find I'm able to plan another project -- work on outlines, etc -- but putting words on the page is tough. Fresh off Revision Mode for the submitted project, shutting down the internal editor is especially hard.
Lucky for me, the stick that holds my carrot is a knotty, stubborn thing. It came from a tree that came from a sapling that came from a seed planted by my parents. They watered it with encouragement and pruned it with discipline, until they had a tree that thought it could shade anything, be home to any animal, grow as tall and as broad as any tree, ever.
For me, the motivation is only part of the whole. The structure supporting it is just as important. These days, my parents are enjoying the fruits of their labor and have passed on the caretaking of the tree to others: my husband, my friends, my colleagues, my readers, and, of course, me. The deep-seated, long-nurtured belief that I can achieve anything is what holds up my motivation.
So, I long for the carrot. But it would fall underfoot without the stick that holds it.
Be sure to check out Rebecca's blog chain post from yesterday, then Kate's tomorrow.
Motivation. Where does yours come from? How do you use it? What supports it?
6 ate pie:
Love your tree analogy!
Great post, Shannon! I think it's awesome your parents gave you such a great foundation. My parents are gone, and it's posts like this that make me grateful for what I had in them. Thanks.
I love this!
Great post, Shannon! And so true about the importance of the stick.
Thanks, folks! Mom said this made her mist up a little. She says she hopes my tree's an apple tree b/c I make "crunchy, juicy, sweet and saucy writings!" Aww. Gotta love our moms.
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