I grabbed coffee with a friend on Saturday to discuss all things writing. Shout out to you, friend! (If you’re reading this, you know who you are.)

We talked about the painfully joyous process of writing fiction. The struggles, the triumphs, the pacing-in-your-living room nights and the am-I-ever-going-to-make-it days. However, what struck me most about our conversation was her stance on discipline and motivation. She firmly believes that motivation and discipline are two separate things. I agree with her. Motivation isn’t what pushes you to the finish line. If we only wrote when we felt motivated, we might never get anything done.

Our discussion reminded me of the quote from Liz Gilbert’s TED Talk. She says, “I’m a mule, and the way that I have to work is I have to get up at the same time every day and sweat and labor and barrel through it really awkwardly. But even I, in my mulishness, even I have brushed up against that thing, at times… You know, even I have had work or ideas come through me from a source that I honestly cannot identify.”

It’s true. Many days when I write, I feel I am lumbering on the page. I feel I may have written the worst thing in the world or the best. It’s hard to tell. But I know it didn’t feel “good” to write. It didn’t fly off the page. Yet, I still showed up. I still pushed myself even if my motivation was lacking.

Other days, writing feels amazing. I equate those days to a runner’s high or a perfect day on the soccer field. Seventy-five degrees, partly cloudy, no humidity. A dream. Those days, it feels like I could write for hours and hours without losing any bit of energy. It’s not a struggle to get to the finish line or score the game-winning shot; it’s a joy.

However, dear reader, I’ll let you in on a secret. Those days don’t come around every day. They might not even surface every week. That’s where discipline comes in. Discipline is pushing yourself beyond what motivation can provide. It’s doing the task, fretting over the rewrite, or copy edits, or character descriptions when it might just be easier to watch Big Little Lies. Those writers write better than you, anyway, so what’s the point?

But the point is, even if you only make it through 500 words that day, that’s 500 more than yesterday.

So, if you ever feel like motivation is sitting on the sidelines, watching a butterfly instead of getting into the competition, here’s what I recommend:

1. Take a walk outside.
2. Reach out to a friend, family member, or significant other for support.
3. Envision your end goal. For me, it’s a whole shelf of books with my name on them at Barnes and Noble, then giving a chat at said Barnes and Noble about my latest book. I know that’s a crazy thing to put out into the universe, but I just did. Yep, I said it.
4. Take baby steps. I mentioned an author friend of mine’s approach in a previous post.
5. Pair your writing with something that brings you joy like music you like to listen to or a favorite coffee you like to drink. If you can only have cappuccinos when you’re writing, that incentivizes you to write. Can you tell what I use to incentivize myself?

Thanks to my friend for our fun discussion on Saturday and for inspiring this blog post. What helps you discipline yourself when your motivation is lacking? What helps you refresh your motivation?

Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash