Lacking Motivation and Focus? Wake Up Your Writing Brain

Welcome to Part 2 of the Lacking Motivation and Focus series! If you missed Part 1 “Look at Your Space,” I suggest checking that out, though I won’t reference it much in this post.

            Let’s say you love the area you work in, but you still aren’t motivated to write. Maybe you’re feeling rundown, or perhaps you’re overwhelmed with the work ahead. To-do lists, events, and other story ideas may pollute your brain. Whatever reason it may be, you are struggling to turn on your writing brain, at least the part that’s supposed to focus on your current work in progress. What do you do then?

            Warming up your writing brain can help you find motivation to write your story and dive into the writing zone. Some days when I don’t have the motivation to write (or really do anything for that matter), doing something that wakes up my imagination or inspires me can put me in the writing mood, even if it is just for a little bit. There are many ways you can stimulate your writing brain. I will list a few I have personally tried and found helpful.

Write in Your Personal Journal

            I have kept a personal journal since I was 12 years old. It started out as a way for me to vent those teenage emotions, and I don’t write nearly as much since graduating high school. But when I do journal, I want to keep writing, even when I’ve run out of things to write about. I enjoy talking about my day or something that happened in life, and the act of writing that turns on my writing brain.

            Your personal journal is, of course, anything you want it to be. Some people stick to a certain theme or part of their life to journal about, but your journal can be a hodge-podge of whatever you want. I center around events in my life or feelings I’m having, but occasionally I journal about writing, politics, or world events.

            Some authors incorporate real life events into their writing. Though I haven’t tried this myself (yet), imagine looking back at one of your journal entries and thinking, “This would make a great scene.” Journaling has its uses outside of getting things off your mind! Looking back at happy memories can also put you in a good mood, which may give you more motivation to write.

            I know keeping a journal isn’t for everyone. Even if you don’t keep a journal, challenge yourself to write, either by hand or digitally, something that happened today or sometime in your life. You can go into as much detail as you want. You can even write it as if it were a scene in your book. Sometimes just writing something down wakes up our writing brains and reminds us that we do indeed like to write.

Writing Prompts

I will admit I rarely use writing prompts, mainly because I can’t find anything dramatic enough that I’d want to write. But I did go through a period where I created my own writing prompts. One prompt was to rewrite the end of a movie that particularly upset me. Another was to choose a scene from a movie and write it out as if it were part of a book. I chose specifically movies for my prompts because I had the story, setting, and characters, but they weren’t written out in words, so it was up to me to describe it.

There are thousands of writing prompts online. I even have a couple on my Pinterest, if you want to check those out. I suggest making your search as detailed as possible if you prefer writing in a specific genre. Many websites provide writing prompts for each genre, though some are cheesy. If you don’t find anything you like, try creating your own. Like I said, using movies as a base makes it easier because you already know the characters and setting, so all you need to do is put it into words. You can do the same with your favorite books, like rewriting the ending, writing from a side-character’s POV, or even writing fanfiction (fanfiction is useful – it’s the reason I decided I like writing).

Like journaling, writing prompts help creativity flow and wake up your writing brain. Simply writing a scene based off a prompt can rejuvenate the desire to write. Consider using one of your main characters in a prompt. Can the scene you just wrote be used in your story? If so, then congratulations! You just added to your project!

Read a Favorite Scene or Quote

Like me, a certain book or movie probably inspired you to write. The book that inspired me to write the way I do was Jennifer A. Nielsen’s (2018) The Traitor’s Game. The chapters in her book switched between the first-person perspectives of her two main characters. Her characters were well written, and though I was always in the head of one of them, they still managed to keep secrets. Whenever I look back at that book, I remember what helped inspire my story.

What inspired you to write? Was it a book you read recently, or was it something from your childhood? Was it a movie?

If you know exactly what inspired you, I encourage you to reread or rewatch your favorite scene from that story. Remember Past You who was so excited after reading or watching that for the first time. Remember why you want to write your story. I know it will be tempting to read or watch the whole story again but stick to that one scene.

You can also take a second to study what you like about that scene and apply those concepts to your own story. Do you like the way the characters are portrayed? Is the action or tension described in such a way that it keeps you glued to the page? Is there a certain line that makes your jaw drop?

Maybe instead of a story, you were inspired by a quote. Write that quote down and put it in your journal or on the wall near where you write. Look at it often.

When we are inspired by something, looking back at that inspiration can remind us why we want to be writers or why we want to write a specific story. Just think about it – one day, your story could be another writer’s inspiration too.

Read What You Wrote Last Time

New York Times bestselling author Jerry B. Jenkins (jerryjenkins.com) has a method that when he sits down to write, he reads and edits what he wrote last time. This method has helped me so much. When you look back at what you last wrote, it reminds you what happened and you remember key pieces of information you might forget otherwise. I will admit that the deeper into my book I became, the less I did this. As a result, there are bits of information I now must figure out how to insert because I forgot about them.

            Not only is Jenkins’s method useful in this way, but it can also motivate you to continue writing. There were many times when I wasn’t motivated to write until I read what I had last written. Editing that portion too can wake up your writing brain because you think about writing and your story without actually writing.

I don’t know if I’m the only one, but when I don’t feel like writing, I forget how much I love my characters and how excited I am to reach a certain scene. Somedays I’m genuinely not in the writing mood, but when I’m just being forgetful, returning to the previous scene reminds me of the story I’m writing and how much I like working with my characters. Sometimes that scene inspires me so much that I dive into the next part without even thinking about how I didn’t want to write today.

If you’re not in the mood to write, just sit and read what you have already. You’ll be surprised at how reading your own work can spark your imagination and nudge you toward writing more. Try editing for a little bit (not heavy editing – just some easy fixes). Even if you don’t get anything else done, you can at least say you edited!

I haven’t listed every way to warm up your writing brain, but these are methods that have helped motivate me. I encourage you, as with everything else, to experiment. Sometimes you may need to use a couple methods in order to be ready. When you don’t feel motivated, sometimes all you need to do is warm up your writing brain and spark your creativity. Then just let the writing happen.

In the third and last part of this series, I will discuss that when we lack motivation and focus, sometimes we have a good reason and that it’s alright to take a day (or more) off.

See y’all next time!

Bibliography

Nielsen, J.A. (2018). The Traitor’s Game. Scholastic Press.

Jenkins, J.B. jerryjenkins.com