This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
You can listen to Anna’s podcasted novel over on her website www.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes.
I’m guessing if I told you I write because I want to have lots of babies and live in a far away land, you’ll probably think I’m nuts. But those are two of my biggest motivations when I shut my self away to write with only twitter to keep me company.
If you’re an unpublished author you need to be pretty motivated in order to write as you don’t have the motivation of getting a pay cheque at the end of it, and there is no guarantee that anyone will ever read what you write. Writing isn’t always the thing you want to do at the end of a hard day at work and turning down social engagements seems a bit like madness when you’re not working to deadlines other than your own self imposed ones.
I’m not motivated by the little chestnut that I want to see my name on a book. Don’t get me wrong I’m sure nothing compares to it, but I get to creative projects and exhibitions at work that get my name on it. And if I was less lazy academically then I might co-author or author books about my work subjects which would be a quick win to get my name on a publication.
What actually motivates me is the freedom that writing would give me. I don’t earn megabucks working in my day job, I do it because I love it. And I think that’s the same as writing. I love escaping into that little world I created and seeing my characters develop on the page. I’d love to be able to do that every day.
I’d also love to be able to write where ever I wanted to and what that would mean. I could go and do more travelling or live abroad without having to worry about where to work.
Then there’s another motivation. My other half said if I was a self supporting author then I could have as many babies as I wanted, rather than the sensible one that he thinks we should have!
At the end of the day, these probably sound like trivial reasons to write. But I guess you need something to kick you up the bum when all you want to do is slob in front of the telly rather than hop on the laptop.
So those are my quirky reasons for tapping away at my little keyboard – what motivates everyone else? And I wonder if when you’re published do your motivations change?