All writers struggle with motivation at times. Whether you’re writing freelance pieces, content for your blog, a novel, short stories, poetry, or even an essay, thesis, or dissertation … it can be really tough to stay motivated to write.

Even after 12+ years of writing full-time, I still have days when I don’t feel motivated at all. (My freelance work pays all the bills though, so that definitely helps me stick with it. ;-))

Staying motivated can be particularly hard for novelists and short story writers. You might be working on a book for months, even years, without knowing whether it’ll find a publisher or an audience.

A lack of motivation doesn’t mean that you’re not cut out to be a writer. It usually just means you need a little boost to help you feel engaged with your writing again.

These nine motivational writing tips have helped me and plenty of other writers. I hope one (or more!) of them is just what you need to motivate yourself, too.

#1: Have a (Firm) Deadline

Deadlines have a wonderful way of concentrating the mind. As soon as your writing has a deadline attached, there’s a sense of urgency about it. I wouldn’t have finished many essays in school or at university without the power of a deadline (and the fear of missing it).

Many fiction writers, especially first-time novelists, don’t have an agent, publisher, or readership waiting eagerly for them to finish. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use the power of deadlines to motivate yourself. You could promise yourself a reward for meeting a self-imposed deadline. You can also make deadlines more “real” in a couple of key ways:

• Get someone else involved: a friend, a writing buddy, a teacher or coach. Promise that you’ll send them your blog post / scene / short story by a particular date.
• Enter a short story competition. These have very real deadlines, plus wordcounts; they’re great for writing discipline. (You can also find competitions for novels and other types of writing, but short story competitions are the most common.)

#2: Take a Writing Class or Course

Every time I go to a writing class, course, or lecture, I end up feeling inspired to write. Way back in 2008, when I started my creative writing degree at Goldsmiths, I was worried I’d lost my motivation for fiction – I was enjoying blogging and freelancing too much. After a single class, though, I was raring to get started on my novel, Lycopolis, which eventually became the first installment in a trilogy.

Of course, you don’t have to take a creative writing degree to get motivated to write. You could go to a local workshop or class, attend an online class, or take a whole online course.

To get the most from a class:

• Be prepared to participate. Usually, the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. Make an effort to speak up – and don’t shy away from sharing or even reading out your work, if there’s an opportunity for that.
• Try something different. If you’re a novelist, take a class on screenwriting or poetry: you might not choose to try out a new medium, but you may well find yourself re-inspired for your novel.

#3: Listen to Music That Fits Your Writing Mood

Is there a particular type of music that you enjoy? Maybe it appeals to your creative side or helps you to focus. You might not like to listen to music while you write (some writers find it too distracting) – but you could play a favourite track or album before a writing session.

With most of my novels, I’ve had a particular album that I played over and over while writing them. Occasionally, I had a specific song that I’d play on repeat dozens of times. I found I didn’t really “listen” to the music, but that it helped me to be in the mood to write.

You might like to try:

• Picking a specific album (or even one track) as “writing” music. Listen to it when you want to get into the writing frame of mind, and not at any other time.
• Using a particular song as the basis for a new scene. You could simply take the general mood of the piece as the starting point, or work particular lyrics into the dialogue or narrative (even if you take them out later).

#4: Imagine Yourself Writing

In all sorts of fields, people use visualisation to help them reach their goals. Top athletes, for instance, might imagine going through a particular set of moves again and again. Public speakers may picture themselves walking onto the stage, delivering a great speech, and receiving the applause of a thrilled audience.

Some writers like to daydream about their finished book on the shelves … and while there’s nothing wrong with that, visualisation tends to be more effective when you see yourself doing the actual writing.

When you want to feel more motivated to write:

• Sit with your eyes closed and imagine yourself writing. Hear the click of the keyboard, see the words appearing in front of you on the screen.
• Don’t be afraid to visualise problems. Imagine getting stuck, feeling tempted to check emails. Then imagine yourself saying “no” to that impulse, and sticking with the task at hand.

#5: Set Aside Time for Your Writing

You’re never going to stumble across a “perfect” time to write. Other commitments in your life – school, work, family, friends, different hobbies – could easily fill every day, if you let them.

You need to fit writing into your week in a way that suits you and your circumstances. Before I had kids, I often wrote fiction on Saturdays. Over the past eight years, I’ve done most of my fiction writing in the late afternoon or early evening, squeezing it in around family life.

To really make time for your writing:

• Block out several hours, if you can; perhaps even a whole day. Even if you can only do this once a month, it’s a great way to relax into your writing and make serious progress.
• Stick to your writing appointments. If you’ve promised yourself that you’ll work on your novel on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, turn down social events or Zoom calls on those nights. (You don’t need to explain why if you don’t want to: “I’ve got another commitment” is all anyone needs to know.) And when you’re writing, make the most of your time.

#6: Picture the Scene in Progress

In #4, I suggested visualising yourself writing. If you’re a fiction writer, another great use of your imagination is to picture the scene that you want to write.

Where are your story’s characters located? What are they saying or doing? Are they moving around? How are they reacting to events or to one another? Try to see the scene unfold in front of you.

This can feel a bit odd at first, so:

• Don’t worry if you can’t “see” the scene in glorious technicolour and surround-sound. When I imagine my characters, they’re often small (like dolls), as if I’m looking down from a height, and I can’t hear them. Other times, I can imagine what they’re saying, but I don’t have a clear picture of the location.
• Write down notes to capture what you imagine: these can just be brief bullet points about things that need to occur in the scene. Often, the act of writing will spark off new ideas.

#7: Remind Yourself Why Your Writing Is Important

One of the reasons why writers grind to a halt and eventually give up is because the rest of life seems somehow “more important” than writing . When you’ve got bills to pay, dishes to wash, family to care for, friends to see, writing a novel or publishing regularly on a personal blog can seem like a big waste of time or a huge indulgence.

It’s not. Your writing is important. Even if you never publish a single word of it, and even if it never makes any money, you’ll still have gained a huge amount through the writing itself.

So that you remember that fiction matters:

• Record your reasons for writing, and don’t be afraid to say why it matters to you. If writing fiction makes you feel happy and grounded, that’s important and valid.
• Talk with other writers. That could mean meeting up for coffee with a writing friend, joining a local group, or hanging out on Twitter or in writing forums online.

#8: Share Your Work with Other Writers

Sharing your writing means you get insightful feedback on your work-in-progress, plus you get the buzz of having people read and discuss your writing. Often, they’ll be keen to know what happens next — which can encourage you to get on with the next chapter.

Seeing other people’s work in progress can also be motivating: you’re around other people who value writing and who take it seriously. You may also find that spotting the rough spots and mistakes in other writers’ work helps you be more alert to those in your own writing.

When you’re looking for a writing workshop group:

• Ideally, find a group that meets regularly. To really keep up the momentum, meeting weekly or twice a month is best. Lots of groups only meet monthly, though, and that’s still great.
• Consider online groups and forums too. I run the Aliventures Club for anyone who’s bought  from or worked with me in the past: it’s a free private Facebook group where you can share your work in a friendly and supportive environment.

#9: Just Write the First Few Sentences

This tip might look deceptively simple. It’s also very effective. When you’re not feeling motivated, just sit down and get started. Write just a few sentences.

You don’t need to be in the right mood before you’re allowed to start getting words down. You don’t need to wait until the muse descends. You don’t need to feel like every word flowing from your fingers is gold.

You just need to write. (And when you do, you’ll often find that the act of writing helps you feel more motivated to write.)

If you need some help getting those first few sentences down:

• Give yourself a time limit. Write for, say, ten minutes. However unmotivated you’re feeling, you can manage ten minutes.
• Start half-way through a scene or chapter. Jump in with a line of dialogue or a sudden action, and go from there. Begin with the first key point of your blog post. You can always go back and start things off more smoothly later (and you might even find that midway is the best place to begin).

Next time you want to write but feel unmotivated, give one or two of these tips a try. And if you’re still stuck, go for my ultimate motivation tool: I’m either going to write or clean the house. That usually helps focus my mind. 😉