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2 Stupid Tricks I Use To Make Myself Write

Tricks for when the motivation to write just isn't there

By Elise L. BlakePublished 3 months ago 3 min read
2 Stupid Tricks I Use To Make Myself Write
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

If there's one thing I know about writing that I don't have to tell you - it's that writing is hard some days. 

I know I have to - I know I need to, but some days…

I just don't want to.

It's ok to have days when you don't want to and take that day off to rest, but there are some days when you have a looming deadline or need that extra kick in the pants to get going. 

There are also days when I'm going to write - but decided to procrastinate on social media for an hour - or three before I get to any real writing. 

Here are two tricks that I used to get myself writing when I'm either putting it off or I just don't want to. 

It's Right There 

When I open up my computer, Scrivener automatically launches and places my recent work directly in front of me. 

I don't have to go looking for it, I don't have to waste time or get pulled in a different direction because it takes up the entirety of my screen. 

All I have to do is find where I left off and start writing.

This is also the way I get myself to write articles every day. 

When I open a window in my browser a tab automatically opens with a blank article writing screen. There's no stopping at TikTok or scrolling through Instagram. It's right there. 

For the days I'm being particularly stubborn about wanting to write I tell myself that these are my lock screens. 

I can't move past unless I at least do a little bit, which brings me to the second stupid trick. 

Just One Paragraph 

Somedays the idea of writing can be daunting as a whole, I mean it's a lot of words that I have to put down and there are days when the motivation for even a single one just isn't there. 

So I tell myself I only have to write one paragraph, this can be for either my articles or my fiction because a paragraph isn't that hard, isn't just a few sentences. 

Nine out of ten times this will be all I need to continue with the rest of the article or to keep moving forward in the scene and some days I call it quits as soon as I put that final period on the paragraph. 

Even if I only did a little - well at least I didn't do nothing. 

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These are some tricks that work for me when I'm stubborn about writing and have the feeling that dragging myself to my desk feels a lot like dragging myself to certain doom. 

Maybe they'll work for you if you have the same feeling about writing some days.  

Best of luck! 

With love, 

B.K. xo xo

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This story was originally posted on Medium.

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About the Creator

Elise L. Blake

Elise is a full-time writing coach and novelist. She is a recent college graduate from Southern New Hampshire University where she earned her BA in Creative Writing.

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Comments (1)

  • Mark Graham3 months ago

    Very good. I had that trouble today, but I put the book down and I wrote four acrostic critiques about some children's books I read and re-read. Hope you read and comment on them.

Elise L. BlakeWritten by Elise L. Blake

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