{"id":39701,"date":"2017-03-12T06:36:18","date_gmt":"2017-03-12T13:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=39701"},"modified":"2017-03-12T19:56:17","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T02:56:17","slug":"how-i-motivate-myself-to-write","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/12\/how-i-motivate-myself-to-write\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Motivate Myself to Write"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"eric
Hanoi, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Writing is fucking hard. Far more unnatural than writing, photographing, or any other artistic form.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"eric<\/p>\n

1. Writing is just expressing your soul<\/h2>\n

It has taken me a very long time to hone my writing skills. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been writing for a long time \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I started my first blog when I was around 16 years old. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m currently 29, so I guess I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been blogging for around 13 years now.<\/p>\n

What has hurt me is all this \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmisinformation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 regarding writing. In the past, I got bogged down by grammar nazis and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcrules\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 on writing.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m starting to realize that there is no right or wrong way to write. Writing is just self-expression. Writing is a way to express your inner-soul.<\/p>\n

2. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s block; I just fear being judged negatively by others<\/h2>\n

I used to have a hard time finding motivation to write. After all, what causes some of us to get writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s block? I know personally, I used to have a lot of writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s block, and a lot of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcresistance\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to writing.<\/p>\n

But honestly, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwriter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s block\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 exists. For me, it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s block. It is fear. Fear that you will be negatively judged. Fear that others will look down upon you.<\/p>\n

The only way to overcome this fear is to make yourself naked. To bleed on the digital page. To write about your own flaws, your own inconsistencies, and your deepest, darkest, inner-thoughts. If you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be honest to yourself, how can you be honest with others?<\/p>\n

3. Bleed onto the page<\/h2>\n

About a year or so ago, I went through an inner-cleansing, or purge. I had a lot of negative emotions, thoughts, and feelings from the past. I just let them spill out onto the screen, from my fingertips. Writing was self-therapy. I feel cured now.<\/p>\n

What gets me up in the morning now, to motivate myself to write?<\/p>\n

For me, it is a sense of purpose. A sense that I was put on this earth for a greater purpose, instead of just feeding myself, buying myself a bunch of stuff, and adding to the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccomforts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in my life. I write to help empower others. I write to create information which I was once hungry for. I write to create open access, to create free information and resources, in order to not<\/em> waste my life, and to have a reason to wake up in the morning.<\/p>\n

I never want to retire. I want to write until I have massive carpal tunnel, and perhaps might have to start dictating to write. I write with a sense of ego, which thinks that I have something worth sharing. And I think I do. And I think you do too.<\/p>\n

4. Share your light with others<\/h2>\n

If the world was a dark cave, and you had a light \u00e2\u20ac\u201d wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you share that light with others? Or would you keep it to yourself?<\/p>\n

Write because you have something worth sharing. For me, I used to get discouraged if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get a bunch of page views on my blog or articles. For the last 3 years, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve disabled statistics on my blog. This is the best motivator. Because I write for myself, and I write for the (few) others. My ultimate driving force is that if I can write something of use to even 1 other individual, it is worth doing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Even if my creative writing isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t useful to any other individual, as long as it is useful to me, I still write<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

5. When in doubt, drink more coffee<\/h2>\n

Of course there are practical things which help motivate me to write. Which is (of course) a lot of coffee, cold showers, and physical hunger.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll give you an example:<\/p>\n

Yesterday (Feb 19th, 2017) was Cindy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday. We had a lovely dinner, and slept around 11pm. For some reason, I woke up today at 4am. I usually sleep in until around 9am, but perhaps I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sleep well because I had some wine last night (I usually don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t drink).<\/p>\n

Anyways, I get out of bed, take an icy cold shower, mind stirring with ideas I want to write about and share. I still feel tired, so I make myself a (strong) Vietnamese robusta coffee. I also currently have some hip hop instrumentals on loop (Pusha T\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNosetalgia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which I find helps my mind focus. I cannot write in complete silence.<\/p>\n

My apartment is pitch dark, and I have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153IA writer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d set to night time mode. I accidentally woke up Cindy earlier, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m trying to type (softly).<\/p>\n

6. Turn off the internet, and the phone<\/h2>\n

I also find what helps motivate me to write is not<\/em> getting distracted. I make it a point to fast from \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcjunk information.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 What I mean by that is this\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I know that fasting from food (not eating) for periods of time (18-24 hours) is healthy for your body and mind, like a purge. The same goes with digital information \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found that 99% of what I read online is just junk food. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found true information through poetry, ancient philosophy, and funny enough\u00e2\u20ac\u201d a lot of modern hip hop music (Kendrick Lamar is a true poet, and one of my biggest inspirations).<\/p>\n

I make it a point not<\/em> to check email for long periods of time, and I check social media as little as humanly possible. Also whenever possible, I remove any form of statistics which \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcself-quantify\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 myself. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t check my word counts for my writing, nor do I check how many likes, comments, or whatever my writings get.<\/p>\n

Also a huge new step for me \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I care less about posting my articles and thoughts on social media. Because posting things to social media causes me to feel a slave to someone else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s platform. True freedom as a writer is to own your own platform\u00e2\u20ac\u201d your own blog, your own self-hosted platform to express your ideas. I use wordpress.org<\/a>, with the (paid) \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGenesis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 theme. I can publish anything I want, without censorship. This drives me.<\/p>\n

7. Today is your last<\/h2>\n

I write about this a lot, but death is the ultimate motivator of my writing.<\/p>\n

Whenever I put my fingers to the keyboard, I write like it will be the last thing I write. Because who knows, I might walk out into the streets of Hanoi and get run over by some crazy taxi driver. Or perhaps I might get some allergy to some food (I am allergic to shrimp), get anaphylaxis, cannot breathe, and die.<\/p>\n

At best, I can live to be 92 years old (when my grandfather died). At worst, I will die today or tomorrow.<\/p>\n

I write as much as I can, and try to schedule out my thoughts into the distant future. And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fear \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcover-publishing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d another deterrent to my writing.<\/p>\n

8. I am not a writer<\/h2>\n

The last advice I have for you is this\u00e2\u20ac\u201d don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t call yourself a writer. That will hurt you. Just see yourself a curious individual in life, who gets some ideas, and shares these ideas for the benefit of your few friends, and for yourself.<\/p>\n

9. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t write if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like it<\/h2>\n

Also, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t write if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like it. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m lucky that I always feel like writing.<\/p>\n

Figure out whether you have a hard time motivating yourself to write (if you have any ideas worth writing about), or whether your issue is fear of writing\u00e2\u20ac\u201d fear of publishing, and fear of being judged.<\/p>\n

10. Hit publish<\/h2>\n

If you fear being negatively judged, just put shitty work out there. Just hit publish. No fear advanced any man to the highest standing (Horace).<\/p>\n

Be brave, and put yourself out there.<\/p>\n

Always,
\nEric<\/p>\n

\n

Overcome Writer’s Block<\/h2>\n