[WPotocki]

Okay, motivation ... what do I do to invoke motivation, huh?

Well, I've tried squirrelly things and not so squirrelly things. I like to experiment so I'm very off the wall with trying new things and thinking things up.

With the very first book I wrote, I was having a horrible time beginning. Someone gave me the excellent advice to set the mood. They said if you're having a date or wanting romance, doesn't putting on the right music and dimming the lights help? I was like, yeah! It sure does. I write horror, but when I thought about the story it was really a very twisted love story. I put on Prokokiev's Romeo and Juliet, sat down and the words just poured out! It worked! Once the faucet was open, it all came out.

Then ... let's see, I hit a wonderful patch of time when I'd wake up, have my coffee and watch Dark Shadows (they had reruns of the old series.) As soon as the program ended, I was in the mood! I'd sit down and write from about 11 AM til around 4 or 5 PM. Then I'd get dressed in my jogging clothes, go to the park and walk and/or run. I found that moving actually gets my ideas flowing. If I sit - doesn't happen. If I move, my brain kicks in. The walking/running stimulated new ideas and allowed me to visualize/conceptualize the next day's chapters so when I started writing the next day, I knew what was going to happen. Really helped and the book and screenplay were written in no time.

It took me awhile to figure out that moving actually helps me think. I finally got it because when someone would give me something at work to do (I worked as a graphic artist), I'd be like ... duh! Couldn't think up anything. Then I'd go home and lo and behold, as soon as the air hit my face by walking home, the ideas would flow.

Now? What do I do now? Now I try to be consistent in the time I work. Routines help. I am very attentive to writing down the first strains of the novel that the muse tells me. That means literally dropping everything and writing down the character's first words, or the first paragraph of the novel. Once that's down, it seems to work out, but I really have to capture that first bit. You can't ever get it back.

Oh, the squirrelly thing I did was buy Kelly Howell tapes. This was right after the Dark Shadows period. Actually one of her tapes worked really, really well. Ironically, it wasn't the one for Creativity. Go figure! And I did love some of her tapes. Really fabulous especially High Focus.

And the other squirrelly thing I did was go into the inner workings of the brain. It seems for creativity, we need to get the limbic system to work. Any great emotion seems to kick start it. That's why the music worked and why some people have ruined their lives by thinking that they can only write when they're depressed. They would have found that really any emotion can work - even happiness - but it's got to be a really, hyper, bigger than life type of happiness. Also the subject of our novels can work since the storyline is usually something we can get emotional about. Since we're writing it, we're probably prone to thinking the storyline is interesting. In other words, if I'm writing a sad story, I'm often crying during the writing of the sad parts. Again, my being emotional about it is helping unlock the limbic system which is aiding my writing which is aiding me in becoming emotional which is ....

Oh, I'm sure you get it! LOL

If I think of anything else I'll post it. You never know what is going to work for you.

Good luck. It is really hard finding time and holding down a job, but it can be done.