2026 Motivation Thread

[EricJ]

@EricJ, I hear you! This is how I work too. Often one or two main projects on the go at once during their initial planning, outlining and rough draft/pre-writing phases, then just one takes over. However, I allow myself to consider new ideas, develop them while they're fresh and growing. That sometimes lasts an hour, sometimes a few days (during which I work on multiple projects). Yes, I could be more disciplined and dedicated to a single project at one time. I would get that project finished more quickly. But I enjoy working as I do, and I do get my projects done. And, as EricJ says, it keeps me moving forward, keeps the creative gears turning when I'm stuck on one story or another.

Yeah true, it's just how I do, I have a few books actually in the works, but right now I'm just prioritizing serial fiction unless sales increase, then I can work on them sometime, just not in the headspace right now for much honestly, got other things going on.

 

[kmtolan]

Writing is picking up with the re-orientation of the story getting a new title 'Spirit Guide'. On version four of first draft with the plot line finally settling. Welding in some of what I wrote before. It's like landing a really stubborn fish, I swear. Being weened off meds (yay!), so goodbye brain fog. I've pivoted from a android-centered idea (which has been mostly cast aside now) after all the writer's block issues finally told me even I wasn't interested in that well-traveled idea. But Mayan mythos coming to life? A girl caught between death gods and high-tech? Oh hell yeah! If I can get this obstinate WIP to a second draft, I can get it to a final.

 

[RedMage]

Writing is picking up with the re-orientation of the story getting a new title 'Spirit Guide'. On version four of first draft with the plot line finally settling. Welding in some of what I wrote before. It's like landing a really stubborn fish, I swear. Being weened off meds (yay!), so goodbye brain fog. I've pivoted from a android-centered idea (which has been mostly cast aside now) after all the writer's block issues finally told me even I wasn't interested in that well-traveled idea. But Mayan mythos coming to life? A girl caught between death gods and high-tech? Oh hell yeah! If I can get this obstinate WIP to a second draft, I can get it to a final.

Glad to hear things are settling, Kerry! Whomever says writing fiction is easy has never done it themselves.

And off the meds? Excellent! Things can only improve from here!

 

[Amberwolf]

It was just turning out longer--and slower paced--than I wanted it to be. It wasn't working well with the rest of the story. I've finally found solutions to the several problems that contributed to the problem, so now I'm moving forward again and both the scene and its full chapter are turning out well.

Ah. I thought perhaps there was a rule I didn't know about for how long things are allowed to be.

I am always finding all sorts of rules to things that don't make sense to me, which I try to follow but sometimes simply can't when doing a thing, whatever that thing is. Sometimes a rule keeps me from doing what is required, or would deform the shape of the thing and make it something it shouldn't be.

Speaking of rules, is there a better place I should move my story snippet to? I guess it doesn't really fit this thread based on everything else here--I didn't think about that at the time I posted but I made quite a long post and kinda got lost in it.

N. E. White and I are talking about this elsewhere, too. We all have different writing processes which work for us, and only us. There are parts which we may have in common with other writers, but the entire process is just ours.

I think that every creative endeavor, person, group, works differently. Even one person's methods may differ between projects, or types of projects. My musical process is different from my writing process, as is my drawing or sculpting or "engineering" or other processes.

My writing process itself is still evolving; I've been doing it for such a short time that it is still more inspiration than deliberation, but the latter is growing, where I get an idea and pursue it--research it, etc--in some detail before writing anything with it.

 

[RedMage]

I was actually excited about writing last night. Couldn't wait for morning to come, for Halloween to be over so I could write my non-Halloween story without all this holiday inspiration tugging me toward the holiday. And what happened? I forgot the clocks changed! I woke up at the new 5am, thinking it was 6 and that the cafe opened at 8. It was really frustrating to discover I had to wait THREE FREAKING HOURS!! Of course, then I left home 5 after 8 rather than arriving at the cafe at 5 to 8...

None of that clock/time stuff was a problem. I had a 400 word lead-in to the scene and finished it with 1,100 new words today. I finally feel I'm getting back to it!

 

[RedMage]

Ah. I thought perhaps there was a rule I didn't know about for how long things are allowed to be.

I am always finding all sorts of rules to things that don't make sense to me, which I try to follow but sometimes simply can't when doing a thing, whatever that thing is. Sometimes a rule keeps me from doing what is required, or would deform the shape of the thing and make it something it shouldn't be.

Speaking of rules, is there a better place I should move my story snippet to? I guess it doesn't really fit this thread based on everything else here--I didn't think about that at the time I posted but I made quite a long post and kinda got lost in it.




I think that every creative endeavor, person, group, works differently. Even one person's methods may differ between projects, or types of projects. My musical process is different from my writing process, as is my drawing or sculpting or "engineering" or other processes.

My writing process itself is still evolving; I've been doing it for such a short time that it is still more inspiration than deliberation, but the latter is growing, where I get an idea and pursue it--research it, etc--in some detail before writing anything with it.

The "rules" are more guidelines. Use what works for you and ignore what doesn't. As a newer writer with a process that's still evolving and not yet firmly established, I encourage you to try different things. Even if you think something works well, still try other things to see if they work even better. That goes for everyone really.

And stories, and chapters and even scenes, should be as long as they need to be! That's the only rule there.

As for your story snippet, you can put it in the Stories subforum. That's the best place. Then add a link to other threads here in the main Writing Forum.

 

[TheSeveredWorldNovels]

Please correct me if these are not the right kind of details to post here:

I wasn't here in January, but I suppose I would have said my goal was to finish a nonfiction book that I had started in October of 2025. I did finish that in February of this year.

Then I would have come back around June and said I was writing a novel (one of four in a series), and incrementally publishing it one chapter per week. I have been doing that, too, but I cheated with automation a little (write 3 chapters when I'm not busy, drip them out when I am).

I wrote a supporting novella for the book/series last month. That's done and published on Leanpub, but for some reason I'm just letting the presale clock run out on Amazon rather than moving up the release date. Theoretically, my wife is reading it to give me feedback but we'll see if that happens.

Right now I'm debating whether to write the next supporting novella or divert my surplus time into refilling the "hopper" of chapters for the first book in the series. Refilling the hopper means I'll definitely hit my chapter a week commitment for the foreseeable future, but it is not likely I will have another period of intense busyness this year.

I have the novella outlined with all the beats laid out and ready to write. Then again, I have that for the current act of the novel I'm writing.

Is this the right stuff to post here? Reading it, it's more like "prioritization" or "progress reporting" than it is about motivation.

 

[TheSeveredWorldNovels]

May I also take a moment to present my very different perspective on motivation?

People who go to the gym because they are motivated tend to stop going. The motivation dries up. Maybe they didn't want to lose weight as bad as they thought. Maybe benching two plates wasn't as important as they believed. Or, sometimes, they lose the weight or they hit their goal and then think, "What now?"

People who do it because they are committed and disciplined have a far higher-chance of continuing long term. For example, I lift at home. I hurt my back recently (not lifting, ironically), and have to take a short layoff. It bothers me. I am under constant habitual pressure to get back into it even though my back still actively hurts. That is the result of committing to a routine and staying disciplined for a while.

It doesn't even take that long. Due to economic circumstances, I had to leave my gym and went quite awhile without lifting before I could afford a setup at home. I think I've been doing the home stuff for about 4 months and it's as much routine for me as it was when I was going to the gym.

I wonder if that model can help someone. Maybe not everyone. Maybe writing requires things like "passion" and "inspiration" and therefore cannot be coerced into a rigid routine the way that something more mechanical like exercise or diet can.

Then again, it works for me. Well. I think it does. I don't know if it really works for fiction because I still can't get anyone to read that and provide objective feedback. But it definitely has worked for nonfiction and it helps me build out what I have planned to build in the case of fiction, regardless of whether or not that plan is a good one.

So maybe it can work for someone else, too.

 

[RedMage]

Is this the right stuff to post here? Reading it, it's more like "prioritization" or "progress reporting" than it is about motivation.

You're right. We use this more as a goals and accountability thread than actual motivation. I thought about changing that at one point this year. Back in April, May... where has the time gone?

Maybe we'll separate it next year. Have one thread for motivation and one for goals and accountability.

I wonder if that model can help someone. Maybe not everyone. Maybe writing requires things like "passion" and "inspiration" and therefore cannot be coerced into a rigid routine the way that something more mechanical like exercise or diet can.

Then again, it works for me. Well. I think it does. I don't know if it really works for fiction because I still can't get anyone to read that and provide objective feedback. But it definitely has worked for nonfiction and it helps me build out what I have planned to build in the case of fiction, regardless of whether or not that plan is a good one.

So maybe it can work for someone else, too.

Passion and inspiration certainly help! But I, too, find a habit keeps the ball rolling pretty well. At the moment I am, yet again, trying to pick up the ball after dropping it for a long while. It's going well! I've written three times since Sunday, and tonight makes four times--Tuesday was an off night.

Unfortunately, SFFWorld doesn't currently have an established critique or even beta reading group. I attempted it a decade ago, but it never entirely got off the ground. There was a group before that, but it had closed and my attempt was a restart. These days, I'm on Scribophile, a critique site with free and paid tiers. You might check them out. There's other sites as well, like Critters, and more I don't know about.