Writing Tips : How do I stay motivated?

 

writing

Here are some things that help me keep on the move.

  • Write little and often. Don’t get into the habit of feeling like it’s not worth bothering unless you are going to change the world. Those little hints and tips might just change someone else’s world. 🙂
  • It doesn’t have to get finished immediately. I have the attention span of a gnat. I will often start things, then put them aside to revisit later. I’ve got some Oracle 9i articles I’ve still not finished. 🙂 It’s better to go where the mood takes you and do something, rather than slave over something that bores you. It should be fun, or why bother?
  • Start with the bits you enjoy. I like writing the example code. Writing the linking text is not so interesting to me. I typically put together all the examples first, then thread some text around them. There is a reason most of my articles are not very wordy! 🙂 You should focus on the pieces that you enjoy and try to minimise the boring stuff, or you will never keep going.
  • If you can’t be bothered to write, do some planning. If I don’t feel like writing I don’t, but rather than waste the time I try to do some planning for future articles. Gathering all the relevant documentation links and sketching out what should be included takes time, but very little in the way of mental effort. It’s like being productive while you are actually being lazy. 🙂
  • If you really don’t want to write, don’t. Don’t feel guilty about taking a step back from time to time. If you push yourself when you are really not motivated, you will burn out and give up. There is no need to be apologetic about your absence when you come back. The world won’t collapse if you don’t put out a blog post for a couple of months. 🙂

Ultimately, you have to find what works for you!

Check out the rest of the series here.

Cheers

Tim…

Author: Tim...

DBA, Developer, Author, Trainer.

15 thoughts on “Writing Tips : How do I stay motivated?”

  4. On a serious note, I like the “Those little hints and tips might just change someone else’s world.” comment. Thinking like that does actually spur me on to keep blogging (or intending to at least!)…as do the “thank you” emails/comments people respond with.

  6. I prefer posts which are mostly code examples, as opposed to the ones that are all explanation. If I’m looking for help with something, I usually know that it CAN be done, I just need some concrete examples of how to do it.
    That’s one of the reasons I cone back to Oracle-Base often, to pinch one of your recipes! 🙂

Comments are closed.