Author R.A. Gasparac

Why are you writing this year? What is it about your idea that fills you with excitement that you can barely stand not writing this very second?  In this post we will:

• Break down and analyze your writing motivation
• Position your motivation to help you succeed at your wordcount come November
• Using accountability buddies

Accountability Buddies

There are several places you can find these people. The easiest is to post into an open forum on the NaNo website, sharing your intent to participate and post daily to receive encouragement.  What I did was join a (closed to the main public) writing group with my facebook friends who were writing that year. It could even be as easy as telling the people you live with, and asking them to keep you accountable for writing a set number of words a day.

Why are these people worth their weight in gold? Because the simple fear of having to report to people that you are slacking off is enough motivation (usually) to keep writing. We hate to admit we are being lazy to other people.  We want to throw out a slew of excuses as to why we couldn’t do something, but having accountability buddies will make it that much harder, because they will have the power to remind you WHY YOU STARTED in the first place.

Choose your accountability buddies wisely. Make sure they are individuals who care about you, and want to see you succeed.  These are the people that you will eventually dedicate your finished and PUBLISHED manuscript to.  It takes a Village- to write a book.

Your Motivation for Writing

In my last post I glossed over your motivations. Now, I want to take a few moments to think about this.  As you may remember, I remarked that if your primary focus was to achieve fame and fortune, that you are in the WRONG business.  Less than 1% of writers are able to live off of their craft. INCLUDING myself.  I hold down a day job on top of busting my ass and hustling to make my stories exist.  Much like how the character Dexter has a compulsion to kill people thanks to his ‘dark passenger’, I feel the pull to make my stories exist.

I say the following wherever I can to help re-affirm my purpose in saying my goal is to help one million people.  This is my motivational tool that helps keep me focused, because I know there is someone out there that needs to read my stories to make their life a little better.  I don’t know where or how, but simply focus on that fact.  One day my writing will be someone’s favorite thing.  Thats not the bi-product of an over inflated ego, because I work hard to make my stories better than even I can originally imagine them.  I toil day in and day out selflessly in the hopes that one day someone will read the words I wrote and it will make that moment better being outside of their own lives.

So, what is your motivation for writing?  The more selfless you make it, the easier it is to write.  What about some buddies to keep you accountable?  Share it with the rest of us in a comment below!