Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Last week we examined the question, “What Inspires You?” I loved your answers on the subject of inspiration last week– God, faith, nature, story, places, poetry, long drives. . .
This week we are going to explore what motivates you. Motivation and inspiration are closely linked but actually very different. Inspiration is often soul deep while motivation may be very visceral. I’d like us to put our heads together again this week to answer the question: What motivates you?
I came up with a few to get us started:
- Money— Let’s be honest. A workman is worthy of his hire. We need to eat and put a roof over our heads. Sometimes this is a strong motivation.
- Deadlines— I’ve heard those writers without a contract and without a deadline say that they can’t get the writing done without the pressure of a real deadline. There’s no question that a deadline motivates.
- The Love of Writing— While a deadline is a negative motivation, the pure love of writing may be your motivation. A positive motivation. One of my friends loves writing to the exclusion of almost everything else. She feels guilty about it, knowing she needs the balance of family and friends. But truth be told, she writes because there is nothing she’d rather be doing.
- Accountability— Whether it be NaNoWriMo, a contest, a critique group or an accountability partner, having to answer to someone may be motivation enough.
- Work Ethic— Some writers need no motivation. They write out of sheer work ethic. I always loved the bit in writer Louis L’Amour’s bio where he said he never waited for inspiration to hit. He was no prima donna. He said he could write in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard with a typewriter on his lap. He also said, “If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.”
- Legacy— Many writers write their books to leave something of themselves behind.
- Reward— I tended to use this motivation. No coffee until you have 1200 words. No three-day weekend until you are one-fourth the way through the book. I’d mark that last word of each book with a special celebration or the purchase of something meaningful.
So how about you or your writing friends. What motivates you?
My motivations have changed as the process of writing has changed. When I started about 5 year ago, my motivation was to tell a story. A story that blossomed from a single image and thought. To this day I don’t know if it was put there by God, but I had no previous desire to write.
The more I wrote, the more I loved it and so now I would love to be able to give up my engineering career and just write, to have that freedom to be my own boss. To be able to live where I want to live, not tied to a location because of work. To be able to go out into nature and find those inspirational locations to help make my stories real.
So my motivation is now to get my novel to query stage as soon as I can to try and make that dream possible. To be able to find true contentment and happiness, and in the process also hopefully bring enjoyment to many others who would read my stories.
The dream is realistic enough that I only need it to be income enough to supplement a full time wage of my wife. I know that the chances of becoming the next J.K.Rowling or Suzanne Collins are about as likely as bull passing through a China shop without breakages. I’m just not that good.
Chris, being the next J.K. Rowling is not beyond you. She never thought of this status when she started Harry Potter. She just wanted to write stories. While we shouldn’t write to be bestsellers, we should seek to transform our own lives with what we write. If we do that with all grace, millions would follow, without being forced.
BTW, I grew up dreaming of being an engineer, but now, I would be sticking with Industrial Chemistry.
Michael, you’re a kindred spirit! My Ph.D. was in chemistry, but for most of my career I was doing what you’d probably call semiconductor applied physics. You’ve picked a good career field that should support you well while you use your writing talents for God without needing to make money from them.
Michael, wow…that’s terrific. “We should seek to transform our own lives with what we write.”
* That goes up on a post-in on my computer.
I love Carol’s philosophy– considering what career will support you while you build your writing career and readership. Go, Carol!
Thank you for the career advice, Carol. First time someone would really be approving that…
Oh, Michael. I don’t know the job market in your country, so if nobody has ever said what I did, maybe you should ignore my comment. In the US, for the same college degree level, engineers tend to make more than chemists, but there are well-paying jobs for both chemists and engineers. That might not be the case everywhere.
I love that you are dreaming big! That’s step one and a huge motivator. The chances of having a J. K. Rowling career are just slightly less than winning the Powerball. . . twice in a row. No matter how well you write, an instant mega career is unlikely. I’m glad you see that. Strangely, it has little to do with how well you write. (Look at Barbara Cartland, for instance.) It has more to do with all the societal issues lining up just right and then something that spurs discoverability.
But to make a living as a writer takes an upward career– each book selling better than the last and earning royalties. A writer has to understand the royalty arc– when they peak for a book and when they drop off– to be able to plan with a financial advisor when it is safe to leave a job and live off royalties.
Be aware that it can take writing dozen or more successful novels while still holding your day job to have the royalty base to quit. Quitting your day job too soon is the surest way to end a career. Worrying about money totally strips creativity. No one can write if he’s worrying about the bill collector’s phone calls.
So dream big– it’s a huge motivator– but back up your dreams with diligence and planning.
I’m glad you added “legacy” to your list, Wendy. It isn’t the only reason I write (“all of the above” could be my answer). But I do want to leave a trail of hope, stepping stones to intimate faith.
* I had two grandmothers, both hard-working, capable women. One left a legacy of blame (everything bad that happened was either God’s will or Grandpa’s fault). The other left a legacy of quiet faith. As a young woman, I wondered how she managed with such grace–a young widow with five daughters and little money.
* I picture my grandchildren and their children holding my books and saying, “that’s how Grandma did it. That’s how faith works. I want what she wrote.”
Me, too, Shirlee. I’ve clung to every bit of written legacy from my ancestors, wishing I had more. Knowing our forefathers (and mothers) helps us understand our spiritual legacy and our own DNA.
I’m not certain about motivation as it were. I could say the Love of writing, but that should he me to be disciplined when I write, which I’m still improving on. I just want to write. To me, I owe someone the story. God used stories as a transformation tool in my life, and someone has to read my story also.
And I’m pretty sure every hard work is rewarded, so every time I write, I create a mental picture of the day I’d be paid for my stories. Deadlines don’t motivate me to write, they motivate me to edit.
I meant ‘… but that should help me to be disciplined…’ How hard it is to write without typos.
Deadlines motivate me to panic.
Sounds like you are motivated to be a storyteller, Michael. I didn’t list that one but there’s a long tradition down through the ages– Scottish bards, African griots, humorists, etc.
Perfect motivation. Tell your stories. We love story.
Added a new word (griot) to my vocabulary collection, Wendy. Thank you for adding that to the list!
My husband and I were just talking about this at dinner last night! I do everything I do – as a wife, as a mom, as a grandma, as a midwife, as a writer – out of the fact that I’m a believer. One day I’ll show up at Heaven’s Gates, and I intend to appear with ten shiny coins in my hand versus one in an old, soiled cloth, Luke 19:11-27 ♥
Good answer!
Is the desire to increase those talents enough? My problem is not knowing when I am increasing them and when I am burying them.
How do you know when you’re getting it right?
What a good question, Chris! You’re making me think 🙂 For me personally, to hold back is to bury – to increase is to offer. One is safe, but powered by fear, and even by pride. The other is scary as all get-out, but it keeps me open and humble. I can hold back all by myself – but to offer, I need proximity to Jesus.
Luke 12:5 comes to mind: “But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell.” I think about that when I’m tempted to hold back. I try to remember that, ultimately, He’s the only One in the room.
And, beyond fear, He’s the only One I truly desire to please.
A quote that rises to mind is this: “’Why is thy mind so entangled,’ said the master, ‘that thou slackenest thy pace? What matters it to thee what they whisper here? Follow me, and let the people talk. Stand thou as a firm tower which never shakes its summit for blast of winds. Forever the man in whom thought wells up on thought sets back his mark because the one saps the force of the other.’ What could I answer save, ‘I come?’” THE DIVINE COMEDY, Dante Alighieri
I trust that if I fear Him and live to please Him, good fruit will follow – even plenty of fruit for sharing around ♥
And how do I know when I get it right? Well, shucks, not a one of us will get it right all the time, or even most of the time 🙂 Sometimes it takes a wrong turn or two to understand which is the right direction 🙂 I just do my best, and try my best to be correctable 🙂
Great metaphor. Great motivation, Kim.
I’ve always loved good stories. For Easter I gave my granddaughter one of my favorite books as a child. The Best Loved Doll is a chapter book, and I hope she loves it as much as I did. So love of story motivates me.
But I write inspirational because of my love for Jesus. I hope one day my stories will touch others for his glory.
That’s another kind of motivation– the Great Commission.
Maybe if I knew why I am writing it would help!
I think I want kids to stand in a library and hand my book to a friend gushing, “I LOVED THIS BOOK!”
Yes, words of affirmation is my language of love.
Keep exploring why you write. It may be because you love children and want to share your love of books with them. It may be simply because you love words and they are the medium for the art you create.
Good question, Wendy. I will say deadlines motivate me. When I have a deadline, I’m pretty good about meeting them. I work well to them. 🙂
*Other motivations include: the sense of satisfaction of completing a project and knowing I’ve put my best (at that time) effort into it. The hope that the words in my books can speak to others’ hearts (perhaps this is part of the legacy aspect?) is another motivation. Accountability is also a motivator for me. And yes, I like the reward motivation too. I think I need to implement that one more. 😉
Knowing what motivates you can help you be productive. And plan fabulous little rewards for yourself. 😉
I’m motivated by adulation…flowers, parades, and seeing my name in lights. The closer I am to being the center of the world’s attention, and never having to relinquish that spot, the happier I am, and the more convinced that the position is mine by right. which, of course, it is.
* I derive my motivation, you see, from music…and have chosen as my life model Joe Walsh’s “Life’s Been Good To Me So Far”. To quote some of the more inspiring lyrics…
* “My Maserati does one-eighty-five…
I lost my license, now I don’t drive.”
* “Got me an office, gold records on the wall,
just leave your number, maybe I’ll call.”
* “I go to parties sometimes until four…
it’s hard to leave when you can’t find the door.”
* “Lucky I’m sane after all I’ve been through.” And sometimes I feel like the only one.
* The song comes from the album, “But Seriously, Folks”
” But seriously, folks…I AM motivated by a rock star, and by a song, and in its title is summed up my purpose in writing and in living. The singer is Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, and the song…”Love Alone Is Worth The Fight”.
And if anyone’s interested, here’s the really cool video for “Love Alone Is Worth The Fight”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk9Pj3ID0UE
Adulation, eh? Since this is the antithesis of who you are, I think it’s the perfect build-up for the song that really does sum up your motivation. “The open door. . .”
Andrew, that was a fun song to sing along with “back in the day.” I love the story it told, a great parody of the life many rock musicians actually lived.
Wendy, All good reasons, although I can’t do the “no coffee until I’ve written a minimum number of words.” Reason? See the one that says, “The water won’t run until you turn on the faucet.” My faucet requires coffee in the morning. Otherwise, spot on.
Right. Me, too. Tea and coffee. Sigh.
I like the comment under work ethics, about just writing. If I get slightly stuck, I just sit down and write because I know I can change it later if I’m not pleased with it … so press thru to the next scene where you do know the direction. Pressing thru to a place of direction is a great motivator. Get to that knowing place.
*Deadlines are great motivators for my contracted articles.
*But my works/books/novels? I absolutely love to write. The sheer love is my true motivation for beginning a prologue. I type the epilogue capped-off by “The End” because I am determined to finish what I start. Anything else would leave me miserable.
You are a finisher. That’s a great motivator– that feeling of “well done” that comes at the end.
Wendy, I like these posts that challenge us to put into words why we write. It’s a real encouragement to “know thyself” and a great way for us to get to know each other.
*The career I just retired from provided plenty of money to live on, professional recognition, and a published record of my work as a professional legacy. I don’t think these are major motivators for my writing now, although extra money would be nice to increase our support for missions. I have discovered that I truly love researching and writing historical fiction, and that makes writing my novels a joy, but I wouldn’t say that’s my primary motivation.
*What motivates me most is the potential of my novels to provide an emotionally satisfying experience to my readers while inspiring them to a more committed faith coupled with a greater desire to share that faith with others. That pushes me to get the manuscripts written and polished to the best of my ability so they will be a pleasure to read and share and to get moving forward on the other tasks like platform building that are essential if readers are ever going to have access to my work. No one knows how much longer they’ll live or how close Jesus’s return is. That fuels a desire to get things finished and out doing whatever they are supposed to do, making whatever difference they can to those who read them.
Well-said, Carol.
* I had a career in academia, and was both known and respected…and saw how quickly it could be swept away, and how easily friends and colleagues could forget to answer emails, and how the spaces that had been filled with learned came to no purpose.
* What drives my motivation is the desire to help people today, to help them see that now is really all they are promised, and that life and love can have both beginning and summation in a well-lived moment.
And you are succeeding brilliantly!
And Andrew, you have a unique perspective. You’ve been given an eternal overview that we all need to be continually reminded of.
That missionary zeal– a holy motivator. Love it. (I also love historical research– I could get lost in it forever.)
Hmmm… I think it is the goals that I set for myself that motivate me. I plan what I’m going to do ahead of time and write 6-7 days a week to get that goal done. Then I move on to the next goal. Also, reading fabulous writers makes me long to be better and to work on my craft. But really, it is the fact that I have given myself the month of April to get this next revision done, that motivates me to work on it every day.
Yes. Goals! I should have listed that. A great motivator for me.
It’s not very PC, but one of my prime motivators is anger.
* I’m very, very tired of a world in which decency and common sense are sacrificed on the altar of ‘not offending anyone’, and of the explicit demand that I not only tolerate but celebrate sin and depravity.
* I’m tired of people of faith – not just Christians – being told that they cannot exercise their own faith in their own business, because they may hurt someone’s feelings.
* And I am angry that this country seems to be taking daily Stupid Pills that accelerate this trend.
* So I try to write a better world, to lead to one in which I hope that generations still unborn may yet inhabit.
You are apparently in good company these days, Andrew, in having a righteous anger. Perhaps these days call for a new kind of zealot in place of complacency and status quo.
When I was young, I used to ask my mom how the world stood by when the holocaust was happening. She’d explain that they only learned bits and pieces as it was happening and could hardly believe what they heard. These days we know about the genocides and about Christian persecution– it plays out on our screens almost daily. What will we say when our grandkids ask how the world stood by?
Three things motivate me: Money, Deadlines, and Accountability. However, I think Deadlines and Accountability are interchangeable for me in regards to my writings. You can’t have Deadlines without Accountability and you can’t have Accountability without Deadlines.
Right. Except some uncontracted authors don’t have deadlines so they arrange accountability.
Wendy,
I write devotionals to put into words the lessons I believe God is giving me. He gives them to me for me, first, then I am the channel to sending them on to others.
*My motivation is the desire to give others hope and encouragement. Every day, people need those two things to help them make it through the next hour, the next day, maybe the next moment, if things are really bad.
*I read a quote from actress Celeste Holm. If I remember correctly, she said that, “Without encouragement, people die…slowly, quietly, and bitterly.”
*Remembering that quote is encouragement for me to keep doing what I’m doing.
Peggy, getting through the next moment is the most useful motivator of all.
* The people who make it through Hell Week in BUD/S are those who concentrate on taking the next step. They don’t think of the next evolution, or Hell Week as a whole. It’s simply the next pushup, the next boat dump. The guys who tried to look ahead rang the quitters’ bell before they began.
How often in the Bible are we reminded to share what we’ve learned, to tell it to our children and our children’s children? Great motivation!
If I were to stop writing I’d have to change into another person because being a writer is a big part of my identity. Of course learning that I’ve made a difference to others through my writing, belonging to critique groups and online ones like this, and earning some money are also motivating factors.
Were I to stop writing, Jan, I should quickly turn into a troll…which might, at least from the standpoint of appearance, be a marked improvement.
I read the words, belonging to groups, and I think of you, Janet. Because you don’t just belong, you take your group members on as prayer assignments. I’m humbled when I think how many years you’ve been praying for me since those long ago days in SCUM.
You are motivated to write but you also motivated to do the hard work of coming alongside other writers to uphold them in prayer. (That’s the best work– prayer.)
Wow! Thank you, Wendy. Of course God doesn’t always take my advice. Do you suppose He knows better than I do about how to run the universe? 😉
To follow up Andrew’s use of song lyrics, a paraphrase from Twenty One Pilots’ song HeavyDirtySoul: “Deadlines inspire me like a dog inspires a rabbit.”
Amen, Jared, amen! You understand deadlines perfectly.
For me it’s a disease:
>>>Bitten by the writing bug Dec 2000 (though I now question this, as some pre-symptoms showed up in mid-1998)
>>>Diagnosed incurable in Dec 2001
Sounds chronic, Todd.
Wendy, there are so many good comments here that fit me perfectly that I think I can only add this about the reward of the purchase of something meaningful. I adore Amish furniture. As money permits, I think I might buy a piece with each book’s income. It’ll be small, but when I sit in my hand-crafted desk chair or survey my TBR pile on my beautiful bedside table, I can be reminded that I bought that with Under Duress (or whatever book comes next).
I like that– the bedside table you bought Under Duress.
I purchased antique German action Kewpies to commemorate two of my books. On is a placard with a tiny holding a book and another is a rare figure of two Kewpies with an open book. I think of the joy of writing ever time I loo at my “rewards.”
My motivation is fear of failure… those ideas born from divine inspiration and never finished. The words I write aren’t about me or for me, so I feel a deep desire to make sure they are presented to those individuals God has in mind to read them.
Sounds like writing is a holy assignment for you. Now that’s motivation.
I have a Category 5 tornado/ migraine today. I cannot move , or see well.
But I can work on plotting. I can write scenes in my head.
I can also dream of shopping with Rebecca Rene Jones. We had fun.
I can’t put a finger on motivation today, but I’d say it’s akin to having an influence on change by way of story.
And now, back to sleep.
Jennifer, I’m so sorry. I’ll pray for you.
Poor Jennifer. I missed you above where you usually post. I won’t even tease you today. Just wish you healing and a painless future.
*hugs*
Praying for healing for you!
Also, there’s a thing going around that a “daith” piercing can stop migraines… It’s right on the pressure point in the ear. If I had migraines I’d go for it 🙂
Jennifer, I’m so sorry you’re hurting. Praying God will bless you with peace as He relaxes every muscle in your body and relieves you of that nasty migraine. Love you, Sister! Hugs!
My reasons for writing:
Just one person.
Dear Lord, let what I write help one person. One person who needs a bit of well-timed escapism to turn their thoughts from despair to hope, from chaos to order. If just one person needs something to look forward to, and they choose the next chapter of one of my stories as the reason they’ll go on another day or week, let me be equal to the task.
And let me always be generous and gracious in person, in case that one person ever meets me, whether I know it or not, so I don’t spoil their enjoyment of my work or their impression of Christ.
Powerful prayer. May it be so.
Thank you.
Paula, your prayer is one of the most beautiful paragraphs I’ve ever read!
☺️ Thank you.
It’s truth. Every time I’m asked why I write, this is all I can think of.
Amen!
Paula, I stand in agreement with your prayer, even when that one person is me. Often, I start writing to process something. God speaks right into my heart, convicting or encouraging me as I write each word. When He graciously nudges me to share, that first draft turns into an offering. It’s a beautiful process of surrender, obedience, and total dependence on God. Thanks for sharing your heart, Sister.
Writing is an expression of worship. I commune with God when I’m writing, reading His Word, studying deeper, inviting Him into my process, asking for His direction, but most importantly, listening. Reading the Bible triggers ideas for devotions, short stories, nonfiction and fiction books. So, I’m mostly motivated to write after I’ve spent time savoring God’s story. With Scripture reading and prayer being a daily habit, throughout the day, God blesses me with an awareness to connect things I witness or experience to something I’ve read in His Word. I’m known for saying, “There’s a devotion in that.” Those moments motivate me to write down ideas that blossom into devotions, short stories, or the beginnings of books. Also, starting, that first moment when I press a pen onto a sheet of paper, motivates me.
Oh, and coffee. Heart-deep Confession: Coffee motivates me, especially if it comes with a handful of peanut M&Ms.
I write to give back some of what reading other people’s writing has given me. The few times I’ve learned my writing has touched someone else have been thrilling for me.