On Motivation, Writer's Block, and Avoiding Discouragement...

One of the most common questions I get asked by other writers is about how to stay motivated through a draft (or many drafts) of a novel. Also, how to avoid writer's block. How to avoid discouragement and keep pushing ahead.

It's funny, because often people phrase their questions this way..."Before you were published, how did you stay motivated in writing and revising a book?" I think this is funny because things like motivation and writer's block don't magically change once you get a book published. Or if they do, they get worse. As for discouragement...rejection is a much more common occurrence in my life now than it ever was pre-pub.

Anyway, I do have some thoughts on the subject, so I thought I'd share.

1. On staying motivated: I love writing, for the most part, I love my stories and characters, and so I actually expend much more energy trying to motivate myself to clean the house or teach my son than I do motivating myself to work on my books. I get a lot of thinking and brainstorming time, but not as much actual writing time as I'd like. So when I have writing time, I'm thrilled and I already have plenty of ideas brewing and ready to launch from my fingertips into my computer.

Even though I don't struggle terribly with motivating myself to write, that's not to say I never struggle with feeling motivated. I go to the gym five or six days per week, but do you know how many of those days I usually feel like going? Maybe one. Here is what I've learned about motivating myself, though. If there's something pleasant in it for me, and if I take away the pressure to perform, it's not such a problem to motivate myself.

So here's what I do (and you can apply this to any area of your life, including writing): I keep an awesomely exciting book in my gym bag. I tell myself I can read a chapter while I warm up, as long as I get myself to the gym. After that, I can go home if I want to. The thing is, I almost never go home without a workout--and it usually ends up being a pretty decent workout.

If you're having trouble with motivation, maybe you need to take the pressure off. Tell yourself you only have to write a warm-up page. Or a paragraph. Then if you want to stop, you can (I'll bet you won't want to!) Rewards in the form of reading a good book (or chocolate) are always awesome too. I also highly believe in setting goals, but more on that next week...

2. On avoiding writer's block: Because of the above, I don't struggle with writer's block. I believe in writing every day. Momentum builds momentum. If I'm in my story in some way each day, it's usually not too difficult to move forward. After having to take a few days off, for whatever reason, I always dread going back to it (which is stupid, because I love working on my stories! But it only takes a couple of days to forget that.) So I say write every day if there is any way to make that happen, and think about your stories when you're not writing. Also, give yourself permission to write utter garbage once in a while. Usually writers don't feel blocked because they have nothing to write. Writers feel blocked because they fear they won't write well.

3. On avoiding discouragement: I think of my writing and publishing ventures as very separate entities. When I'm writing, I don't think AT ALL about the publishing process for that particular book. I write the book mostly for myself at first, and start to think about the audience much later. By the time a book is ready for me to pursue publication, I've usually had a very long break from reading it. It has had to go through several beta readers' hands, and it often takes time for my agent to be able to look at it. So by the time one of my books actually goes out to publishers, I'm very much distanced from the work and into another work in progress. Rejections may pour in, but because I've had so much time away from it and I'm so swept up in something new, they don't hit as hard as they used to. I always encourage other writers--the best thing you can do for your sanity when pursuing publication is to work on something else. Unrelated! Not a sequel!

Those are my thoughts on motivation, discouragement, and writer's block. How about yours? How do you deal with these things?

March Madness Prizes - Tying Up Loose Ends!

Good thing I set up this blog post ahead of time. If you've known me for over a year, you'll know that April Fool's Day is a SCARY place to be in my household. Especially now that my son is growing older. I'll be back to report the horrors...

How did March Madness Writing, Blogging, Reading, and Illustrating Challenge go for you? I think we had a few illustrators to start with, and a few bloggers who made it to the finish line with us, but I think for the most part we were mostly a group of struggling (but overcoming) writers.

Did you meet your goals? Come close? Set new ones? How many of you are continuing on into April?

If you are, I hope you'll continue to join us. We continue to encourage each other all year long on Twitter under the hashtag #WIPMadness. You are all more than welcome to join us! Also, we continue weekly (rather than daily) check-ins on blogs throughout the year. Our wonderful March Madness host, Mary Ann, will host through April, so make sure to stop by her blog and let us know how it's going.

As I mentioned, there are some leftover prizes from March Madness still available. I've been thinking of what to do about this, and here is what I think will be the easiest: If you have checked in at least four times (or once a week) during March Madness, and have NOT won a prize yet, please email me at d(at)denisejaden(dot)com. I'll make sure you get something you'll like :-)

As for the rest of you, I hope you are receiving your prizes and enjoying them! I'd love to hear how you decided to celebrate the completion of your madness. For me, I've chosen the standard wine and chocolate...and I get to go back to a work in progress I've been really excited about. How about you?

March Madness Check-In Day 29! #WIPMadness

TWO MORE DAYS!

I was tempted to just leave this post at those three words, because ISN'T THAT EXCITING?! We're almost there! And whether we've completed our goals, or gotten publishing contracts (yes, this HAS happened--ahem--Misha), or changed our goals, or fallen miles behind our proposed goals, the truth is, we've still probably made more headway than we would have without one another's support.

So THANK YOU ALL!

People in my real-life life often ask me why I'm doing this and how I find the time, and all sorts of other questions that seem to give the impression that March Madness is some kind of big SELFLESS act on my behalf. I hate to burst your Mother-Teresa-like bubble of me, but I do this for myself more than for anyone. I LOVE March Madness and the motivation and accountability it gives me toward serious productivity. I love all of your company, and I love the little nuggets of wisdom that emerge on the different blogs and in the comments over the month.

So, really. Thank YOU!

I hope you'll join us again next year (and invite all of your creative friends), as March Madness is still in its infantile stages of world domination. But we will get there!

Two more days left! Tell me in the comments what was your favorite thing about March Madness this year, and also what you would like to see different for next year. I'm all ears! And don't forget to check in on Kim's blog tomorrow.

We have one more winner today.

Brooke Younker!

Stop by this post to pick your prize, and then email me your choice at d(at)denisejaden(dot)com. We still have lots of prizes left to give. I may give some of our books away in a group to save on postage. Stop back here on April 1st to see if there are any prizes still being awarded.

Also, one important note: we do continue to encourage each other all year long on Twitter under the hashtag #WIPMadness. You are all more than welcome to join us! Also, we continue weekly (rather than daily) check-ins on blogs throughout the year. Our wonderful March Madness host, Mary Ann, will be hosting in April, so make sure to stop by her blog and let us know how it's going.

Not trying to sound like a broken record here, but seriously, thank you so much for joining me for the month. It's been a ton of fun productivity!

More Fun Q&A

Since posting some recent questions and answers from my fan mail, I've received a few follow-up questions. I thought I'd post those here too, since they're such fun questions.

Do you make playlists and listen to music as you write?

No. I love music, it's important to me, but I can't listen to it while I'm writing. I suspect this is because I'm a dancer/choreographer of many years. I can't just let music play in the background without my mind wanting to count out sets of eight and picture combinations of moves to accompany it. It would make for a busy writing time, a little like mental juggling, trying to keep all of that going in my head at once.

I do, however, usually come across songs that remind me of certain books or characters of mine. For example, Things I'll Never Say by Avril Lavigne will always remind me of Loann and Marcus from NEVER ENOUGH. Sick Cycle Carousel by Lifehouse is Claire's song.

I also have a "rejection song." It's a song I listen to after I've received a particularly painful rejection. It's officially a breakup song, but publishing, in a lot of ways, can be like a relationship. This song doesn't build up bitter feelings or anything, at least not for me. Instead it reminds me that I don't want a publisher who is just willing to take on one of my books. I want an editor who is head over heels in love with my story. Plus it's good to dance to, which always helps. So here's my rejection song, Thanks For Nothing by Fefe Dobson:

 

Enough about music. Next question:

What's your favorite book?

Here's my answer: Anyone who has a favorite book doesn't read enough. LOL. I read over a hundred books last year. I loved over half of them. And that was just last year. I really, honestly, can't imagine narrowing my all-time favorite down to one or even ten books. Here are a few loves that come to mind off the top of my head, but it's by no means a complete list: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green, THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER by Sarah Dessen, GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn, CATALYST by Laurie Halse Anderson, ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins, HARMONIC FEEDBACK by Tara Kelly, GUITAR GIRL by Sarra Manning, THE LUCY VARIATIONS by Sara Zarr.

Are you a fast reader?

Not particularly. I know I said I read over a hundred books last year. Thirty of those were audiobooks I listened to while driving back and forth to dance classes. Also, I keep books (or my kindle) with me EVERYWHERE. So, really, those books were read in very short spurts, and not terribly fast. Once in a while I'll find a book that I cannot put down, and I'll push off other responsibilities to read it in a day or two. Or once in a while I'll find a book I really want to savor, and purposely only read a couple of pages a day. Right now I have one of those "savor" books living in my gym bag--that gymnastics book by Lance Ringnald I talked about on the blog a couple of weeks ago. I keep promising to read it with my son, but I'm finding it inspiring, so I don't want it to end.

Are you a fast writer?

Yes. My next book (out either later in 2013 or 2014) will attest to that. It's called FAST FICTION and will teach you my process of writing quickly. It still takes me six months to a couple of years to get from the conception of a story to the point where it's salable, but I can quite easily write the first draft of a sixty thousand word novel in a month now (I've even written two of those in a month once!). Honestly, if I wasn't homeschooling and busy with other parenting/family/business responsibilities, I suspect I could put out a few books in a year now. But a season for everything...

Thanks for the questions, friends! Keep them coming and I will keep answering! (You can post your questions in the comments here, on Twitter @denisejaden, or email me at d(at)denisejaden(dot)com). I love interacting with people who are reading my books, and it's never a bother.

March Madness Check-in Day 22 #WIPMadness

Wow, is it day 22 already? That just whipped by! For me at least. What a difference camaraderie makes, right? Thank you all so much for sticking with us to this point! I love to see this kind of dedication. It's not always common in our world today, and so I can say pretty much without a doubt that you are the people that will rise to the top and not just achieve this goal, but achieve most of your goals in life.

The last week of any goal should be smooth sailing. If you've been waking up dreading each day of the month so far, but doing the work anyway, I have good news for you! This coming week you should wake up with a smile on your face every day! Because you're that much closer to the end, and you're that much closer to your goal, and it really is all downhill from here.

We've been seeing several people celebrating over completing their goals, and also several people celebrating over winning some great prizes. As we approach The End, I have one big important question for you...How will you celebrate the completion of March Madness? If your goals seem impossible to reach at this point...what if you could? What if you forced yourself to stay up late at night or get up early in the mornings in order to reach your goal? Is there something amazing you could reward yourself with?

And just to get into the spirit of rewards, our next prize goes to...

Kim Clarke Harbridge!

Congratulations, Kim! Stop by the goal-setting post and pick a prize, then email me your choice at d(at)denisejaden(dot)com and we will get it out to you!

Also, our wonderful host, Mary Ann Scott, has offered to donate some more "bookish jewelry," so I've added that back in to the list of prizes!

Don't forget to stop by Kim's blog tomorrow to check-in, and I'll see you one more time before the month is up!

As for me, I'll be setting my mind on all things wine and dark chocolate related...

From My Fan Mail

I truly adore fan mail. Renewed realization that my work really connected with someone--that makes it all worth it. If you've ever thought about writing to an author whose work you've loved, I encourage you to do it. Even if they are mega-famous or whatever, they will appreciate your words. It can be a great juxtaposition to all the criticism and impossibly difficult editorial feedback that comes with this business. (But if it's a lesser-known author, even more reason to take time to write to them. I promise, they will appreciate it!)

Some of the mail I've received recently included several questions for me. I thought I'd answer some of them here, because, who knows, maybe more people are interested, but just too shy to write to me, or are afraid of taking up my time. So these questions come from Khanh and Megan. Thanks so much for your wonderful letters!

Why did you decide to become an author? To be honest, I didn't really decide. I started writing when I was in my thirties and pregnant (I blame it on "pregnant brain"). It started out as a journal--something I had never done in my life--but when I wanted to write down really personal stuff that I didn't want read, I changed it to character names. Eventually, I started playing the "what-if" game with my "characters," because that was a lot less scary and a lot more fun than playing it in my own life. I grew to love the experience of understanding human nature and reactions, and coming up with stories in the process.

What kind of music do you like? I like a WIDE variety of music. I'm a long-time Polynesian dancer, so I love many varieties of Polynesian music. I love a lot of the eighties music I grew up with. Avril Lavigne is one of my current favorites--I love her girl-power lyrics, and they often inspire me in writing different characters. Plus I love anything with a good beat that is easy to dance to. I really dislike music snobs who think the only "cool" music is the kind they listen to.

Where have you traveled to? I've been very fortunate to travel a lot of places in my life! I've been to England, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Romania, Czech Republic, Alaska, Florida, California, Bahamas, Mexico, Seattle. With my Polynesian dance troupe I've traveled around Canada, the U.S., to Hawaii, and Japan. My next hope is to go to Spain and Portugal.

Do you like Harry Potter? Um...This is a difficult one for me to answer. I don't dislike Harry Potter, and I think the writing is marvelous. But--and this is completely personal preference--I'm just more of a real-world kind of girl. I get swept up in stories when I really believe they could happen to me, or to someone close to me. It's more difficult for me to get swept up in something more magical or fantasy-infused. Again, that's just me. My husband loves Harry Potter, and I have watched all the movies with him. They just haven't been terribly impacting or memorable for me.

Where do you write? I'm writing this at my kitchen table. I have a small office that doubles as a guest bedroom in my house, but I tend to gravitate back to the kitchen table. I'm not sure why. I guess I like the light in here. I used to write in coffee shops, and I can still write anywhere if I need to (I have a net book with an 8-hour battery) but this is where I most often write.

How do you decide what to write about? It's always different. With LOSING FAITH, I think my initial seed of an idea was to write about two sisters with a secret. I decided to make one religious and one the black sheep of her religious family. From there, the secrets started to reveal themselves to me. I also lost my best friend when I was sixteen. I've always thought there was so much to be explored with a teen experiencing death, and I wanted to delve into that more.

NEVER ENOUGH is also about two sisters, and I'm not sure why I've had such a fixation on sisters. I've never had a sister, but always wanted one, so maybe that's why. With NEVER ENOUGH, the idea came from real life. I have a good friend who suffered with a serious eating disorder. When I first started writing, it wasn't necessarily meant to be a book, or a book I would publish. I really just wanted to understand my friend more and learn how to be a help in her life.

Besides that, I get my story ideas all over the place: from chatting with people or hearing a news story. Quite often when I sit down to watch a movie, in the first ten minutes my mind speculates on where the movie is going to go. It often doesn't, and I end up with a story idea right there.

When you were in high school, did you ever think you would become an author? Not even close. When I was in high school (and this is definitely to my detriment) I didn't like to write, or even read. I found my love for reading in my twenties, and my love for writing in my thirties, but I've always wished I had started much earlier.

Would you ever consider visiting my English class? I would LOVE to visit your English class! Unfortunately, travel does cost money, and most schools do not have it in their budget to bring authors in from across the country. If I ever plan to be in your area, though, I would be happy to make some time to visit your school. One of my very favorite things is to talk to young people who are interested in writing and books.

What advice would you give to people who are thinking of writing a book? Write it! Get your ideas down on paper. Try to write every day, even if it's only a little bit, so your story can gain some momentum.Don't get caught up in the idea of publishing the book--write it first. Publishing is a whole other (stressful) world. Write the book you would want to read, and figure out what you love most in books and what you love least in books in the process.

Thanks again,Khanh and Megan for the great questions! I would love it if we could meet each other in person one day. I'm always *thrilled* when I hear that one of my books has sparked a love of reading in someone. It truly makes my day.

Happy reading and writing to both of you, and to anyone who has taken time to read this :-)

March Madness Check-In Day 15! #WIPMadness

If you haven't heard about my good news yet, you can find the full story here. Lots and lots of excitement for me lately!

If you're here to check in for March Madness, great! If you think March Madness is all about basketball, let me enlighten you. OUR March Madness is about books: setting and achieving goals to do with writing, reading, blogging, or illustrating throughout the month of March. If you haven't set any goals yet, it's not too late! Find out more and set your goals here. And why should you bother? Well, besides the fact that you'll have some great accomplishment to show at the end of ONE MONTH, my March Madness hosts and I are also offering some pretty stellar prizes. You can check those out when you set your goals, but for now, let me toss another prize out to one of our dedicated participants!

The next prize goes to: Candilynn! Congratulations, Candilynn! You can drop by this post to pick your prize from the remaining prizes. Email your choice to d(at)denisejaden(dot)com and I'll make sure we get it out to you!

(Just a note--the hosts are busy with their March goals as well. We don't have time to chase people around to give them prizes, so I'm afraid if you miss checking in and miss your name being announced, you'll also miss out on a prize. See, even more incentive to check in every day!)

While  trying to figure out what to make this week's post about, I couldn't stop reflecting on one particular highlight from my recent trip to Mexico. I was aboard a cruise ship, and for those of you who haven't cruised before, most big cruise ships offer nightly entertainment. I have been a professional performer for most of my life, so, to be honest, my expectations of cruise ship entertainment were not exactly high. But I still went to watch. It was something to do.

On one particular night, I was blown away, and it takes a lot to do that to me. There was a performance by an Olympic gymnast/acrobat, Lance Ringnald that was beyond skillful, plus entertaining and hilarious. The guy cracked jokes on his wireless mic as he did handstand push-ups OVER THE EDGE OF THE STAGE!

Besides that, he started juggling a variety of objects, then proceeded to plop himself down at a piano to play and sing for us!

Anyway, you may wonder how this has to do with writing and completing your March goals. I'm still working that all out. I can tell you, though, that I am feeling inspired to work harder than I have in the past, simply from being around this guy. He talked a lot about continually challenging himself in new ways (thus the juggling and musical skills) and it really inspired me in so many ways.

Lance Ringnald also wrote a book, which I picked up on the cruise ship and devoured the first half of on the plane ride home. It's an autobiography, reflecting on competition from his early years, to the Olympics, and beyond. All through the book, I couldn't help relating to him in his journey.

As writers, we pour our blood, sweat, and tears into our work. We often rewrite entire four hundred page manuscripts from scratch, only to discover that there's something vitally wrong with the entire premise. Hundreds and hundreds of hours, we pour our focus into our writing, not knowing if anything will become of it, or if it'll just end up in the Recycle Bin of our hard drives. Lance Ringnald would probably fall off of his pommel horse at the thought of comparing writing a book to Olympic gymnastic training, but I'm going to do it anyway. Because most writers I know work freakin' hard at their craft, day in and day out, not knowing if it will ever amount to anything, but having to stir up their hope each day just the same. We love it. We can't stop doing it. But it's still damn hard work. As my good author-friend Eileen Cook says, "Life would be so much easier if I really really wanted to be a plumber."

Writing--or at least writing to get traditionally published--can often feel like a competition. There's simply not enough room for all the books that are written to find a place in traditional publishing. The ones that connect with the right editor of the right publishing house on the right day is a very small number. And that's not even to mention finding the right readers for our books. There is a certain amount of kismet involved, and it can be disheartening if today just isn't your day, or if this year just isn't your year for everything to line up.

I love anything that gives me a little bit of hope to push on. I want to constantly continue to challenge myself, regardless of what rejections or acceptances I may be receiving. We can look at the writers around us and decide to hate them because they may take our coveted spot in the publishing world, or pick at the ones we feel are sub par. Or we can look to the really excellent writers and people in this world in order to draw inspiration. We can let them push us on to be better than we ever thought we could be. That's what Lance Ringnald did while training with, and then competing against, some of the best gymnasts in the world. He trained in the same gym alongside gymnasts he would be up against in his next meet. And there are things even in highly competitive gymnastics that aren't always fair. I figure we all have a choice: we can spend our time grumbling about things that are unjust, or we can go searching our world for inspiration and then doing the work to give ourselves at least a chance of success.

I will come back with a full review of Lance's book when I finish reading (it's hard to find time to read when I'm not on vacation!) but I highly recommend this book for anyone in any field who is looking for a little inspiration or added perspective.

Going into the third week of an ambitious month-long goal is usually the time I need inspiration the most. So I showed you mine...

What or who inspires you the most? Is it always something writing related, or have you found something outside of writing that you can draw inspiration from? And how has your progress been on your March goals so far?

Don't forget to check in at Kim's blog tomorrow.