Motivation

The key to achieving anything in life is motivation and I am fortunate that I can motivate myself and others fairly easily. Once you really start a project, for example, writing a novel or getting fit, it does get easier provided you get yourself into a routine. I write and read everyday without fail. It makes sense really, because the more you do sunset-motivation321 something, the closer you get to your target which is motivation in itself. I also advice people to start with an achievable target. It is impossible to write a novel in a day just like it is impossible to lose five kilos in a day. Writing is quite a solitary occupation and getting involved with writing goups makes you feel that you are not alone. The groups I am involved with are very supportive to their members. If members have questions they can ask and there is always someone that will know the answer or solution. We also motivate each other. Whatever you want to achieve, I appreciate that unforseen circumstances can crop up that jeopardise you goals. My daughter is having ongoing health problems and we have just found out that the vertabraes in her neck are not correct. Things like this obviously take up physical time, but they also add stress to your life, which inevitably slows down your progress. I have tried to stay as close to my writing schedule as possible but it has not been easy. When you are weighed down by events such as this it can be difficult to get motivated but you have to push yourself to do it. It is really important to have discipline.

In my last blog I mentioned that through one of my groups, For Writers only who want to Write without Fear of Rejection, I heard about a writing competition organised by Writing Magazine, Lulu.com and Authorite and I was contemplating entering it. Well I managed to meet the deadline with my novel, Survival At Any Cost, and submitted my poster-keep-going entry. Now I really must stop looking at this novel because I keep trying to change it slightly which is quite difficult to do since I have submitted the total word count. There is no time to sit back and relax whilst I wait for the results since I have a number of other projects in the pipeline that are waiting to be finished, and a number of ideas for other novels. I now have a notebook specifically for writing outlines for future ventures, so I don’t forget them.

One of my writer’s groups, Author Marketing Secrets, is holding a two month writing and marketing challenge. This type of challenge is very motivating for those who participate. It will probably start on the 1st of March and I will definitely be participating. I now have to decide which project I will commit to this. I think I will start a new project, maybe one from my notebook, so, I before we meet again, I will have an in depth outline of the project I finally decide on and all of its characters ready to go.

Since we last met, I have finished reading ‘Bad to the Bone’ by Tony J Forder which I really enjoyed. For a bit of amusement I went on to read ‘More Salsa Than Ketchup’ by pile-of-books-with-heart1 Joe Cawley. Since I have moved to Spain I could really relate to it and could identify a number of characters in it. I then went on to read ‘Hamelin’s Child’ by D.J Bennett which at first I wasn’t sure if I would be able to read it because of the subject. Without giving the story away, it touches on crimes that most people try not to ackowledge. I am over half way through ‘Blood in the Sand’ by Kelly Clayton which is a crime and mystery novel and I am still wondering who the murderer is. I am also reading ‘Missouri Waltz: A novel of 1917’ by Richard Dunk. From what I have read so far, it is nicely written and also I am familiar with some of the settings.