How to Start or Keep Writing
Breaking down motivation, environment, and persistence
Writing is difficult. Unfortunately, it is very rarely taught, particularly in any practical sense.
Teaching writing always seems to be a question or, at the very least, not a priority. Writing skills are essential across so many different professions and activities. Really, they are essential. However, many common misconceptions interfere with both teaching and learning writing. Shorter articles are, in fact, not typically easier to write. Writing classroom activity “research papers” do little to help students develop career-focused writing skills.
Writing with other people adds another unique skill set and challenging layer to the process. Communication, goal setting, and defining group member roles help to facilitate the work. Check out this earlier post for The Write Climate about collaborative writing strategies:
As we consider the many layers of writing, some of the personal and logistical challenges tend to stand out. Motivation, environment, and persistence are key.
Motivation
Why am I doing this?
What do I hope to learn or gain?
What do I know about my readers? What are their interests or motivations?
Where are the barriers or challenges to my writing?
Environment
What time of day do I write most effectively? Do I work well on deadlines?
Where do I find that I am most productive? What are my surroundings there? How can I enhance those?
Which environmental factors in my surroundings are inside or outside of my control? Examples might include noise, music, nearby people, lighting, and similar.
Persistence
How do I address the barriers and challenges to my writing? What are my preferred problem-solving strategies?
Would setting aside time each day to write help me? Do I prefer smaller or larger chunks of time?
Do goals of time or word count (with rewards!) motivate me?
What are some approaches that you find useful?