: Re: How do I overcome a lack of motivation to write at home? Late October I decided to take the plunge and attempt NaNoWriMo. I haven't done much writing in some time and thought it would be

@Rivera824

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I have that same problem.

I can spend an entire week writing entire scenes or even chapters in my mind. Typically, it happens when I can't stop and write (eg. I'm driving, cooking, etc). Typically, I go over the scene/chapter in my mind from beginning to end, over and over, each time perfecting something. Sometimes, I can get half an hour to jot down the ideas, some specific dialogues that must be just so, phrases.

Then comes the weekend, when I finally have some good hours to bestow to that neglected scene/chapter... and I can't write a single word. It's like my brain shuts down and can't be bothered to go over the excitement of the original idea. I really do feel like my brain just doesn't feel like making the effort.

Very often it happens because, quite frankly, I'm tired and the adrenaline that kept me running through the week is gone. My body and mind just want to switch off and relax.

What to do? For my sanity, just accept it and take a nap. When I wake up later on, I may be able to get in the flow and write. If I'm really exhausted, I drum into myself that I'm not wasting time, I'm recovering in order to write better later on.

Sometimes, it's not that I'm tired, but... do you remember having that homework that you didn't want to do so you would bribe yourself: work on this for half an hour then you can get yourself a one hour break doing what you really want? It's something like that. My brain was working hard on something and now that it is done, it has decided it deserves a break and switches off.

What to do? I can force myself to get up and vacuum clean. For some reason, that usually gets my creative mind running. Don't ask why. Another physical activity that doesn't need any real thought into it will probably have the same effect. It's not easy to force myself to do this, though, especially because I'm on a lazy state of mind.

I can also let myself fall back onto my bed and close my eyes as if to take a nap. Because I'm not tired, I won't go to sleep; but because my brain is lazy, it'll start wandering about. I then try to capture the last scene I wrote and start lazily going through what could happen next. Very often, I start getting excited about the new scene or dialogue and end up feeling the urge to get up and write it down. Of course it can take half an hour or two hours (and yes, I sometimes kind of slip a bit into sleep here and there, but I don't get fast asleep and the brain does tend to get crazily creative).

In conclusion, if you still have this problem, try to find out exactly why you have it. Then either go with the flow and embrace the laziness (temporarily) or slowly change it. I wouldn't advise to confront your laziness head on as it is my experience it won't work. It'll make you feel frustrated and angry instead, and will make it even harder to write.

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