How Do You Stay Motivated?

Hi Friends!!

From Joan Edwards
Never Give Up!

How do you stay motivated?

After reading about MG author Darlene Foster last week, are you ready for another memoir post? What? You didn’t read last week’s post? Well, this is your lucky day because here is your second chance.

I just read a blog post on how to stay motivated in homeschooling and I thought these same tips could apply to me in staying motivated to write my memoir. Sometimes I wake up at four thirty AM and get a lot done early but usually the rest of the day is duds. Not much more is accomplished after breakfast. Then there are those days where I have Pilates and run errands afterwards usually ending in a very late lunch out and getting home at four PM. Who wants to start a project at four PM? Not me, not anyone. Unless of course your like my memoir partner. 🙂  

However my memoir partner says her favorite writing time is evening. So who am I to judge? As long as it gets done. I just know I don’t get much done after lunch. Either at home or out. I usually read or answer emails or do face book after lunch. Another deterrent to writing is our walks. Yes, this snowy winter has seen fewer walks but sometimes I go down in the basement with a light jacket and walk on my personal treadmill while reading. Not as good as swinging my arms while walking briskly outside but a little better than sitting in my chair. I hope anyway. Any movement is better than no movement I say. And that applies to writing.

Do you write goals? Short or long? I find sometimes writing my word count next to pieces I’ve written lets me see how I’m meeting my goals. I must do about 10,000 words a month to make my goal  of 60,000 by the end of June when this class, www.wymi6m.com , ends, and hopefully enough to pull me through to the end of an 80,000 word or so memoir.  So far in my outline, I have fourteen chapters with about five to six parts to each one. So I just break down the monthly goals to make weekly ones. About 2500 words a week. Not hard for me. I think the hard part will be breaking it down. Cutting parts and words. Killing my darlings.

What tips could you give, to keep yourself motivated in exercise or writing? Do you make weekly or long term goals? And how do you stay motivated in any project?

And for my writer friends I have two gifts: A writer’s conference in Pennsylvania and Memoirist and writer’s coach Marion Roach’s advice for finding time to write.

For those of you who want to go to a wonderful writer’s conference in Pennsylvania??  The famous Pennwriters conference and who’s writers group I belong to? May 15 thru May 18 th 2014:  Sign up here: :

Do you have trouble finding time to write? Here’s what Memoirist and writing coach Marion Roach     has to say :

Stay tuned for next Tuesday when we’ll have a questions and answers from my Memoir partner. Its’ good so don’t miss it.

Kisses and hugs!

© 2014 Clara Bowman-Jahn aka Clarike Bowman-Jahn

XXXOOO