Motivating Yourself to Write

Writing is more than just a technical exercise A PhD student once told me about the occasion when she felt so blocked in her writing that she decided to give up her entire research project: I wrote to my supervisor: ‘I’m giving up and going back to my own country. I apologize.’ He replied: ‘Sorry? You can’t say these kinds of things by email in this way. We need to talk about this in person.’ When they met the next day, the advice given by the supervisor was to begin a fixed routine: get up at the same time, go to the gym, write for a few hours, have lunch, continue to write and then stop. Every day the routine should be the same. He also arranged a new office where all of this writing could take place. The student began to make some progress with her writing. The situation was eventually saved. The experience of many writers suggests that a regular routine of this kind can be helpful and in this particular case, it worked well thanks to the quick thinking and sensitivity of the supervisor. The writer was feeling isolated, demotivated and homesick. Some words of understanding and simple practical advice were required from someone who realized that writing a long text is as much a psychological as a technical exercise. However, there are occasions where such simple solutions are not enough. It is possible to reach a stage where you begin to think, ‘What I am writing has little value or no value. I am wasting my time and other people’s time.’