Just do it!

I have a deadline. It’s close. Very, very close. So close I can feel it breathing down my neck and whispering in my ear, “are you going to make it?”

This book has been hard to write. My husband tells me I say that about all my books but it’s difficult to remember the pain when your stories are out in the world and have been (in general) well received.

I totally love my current heroine. I completely understand her motivation and why she behaves the way she does, but I’ve had mixed reactions from critique partners.  I have to admit, some of the feedback has hit my motivation but I know I have to get in there and make it right, make her loveable, make it so readers are barracking for her from the first page. Find a way to reveal her for the fabulous, feisty, flawed heroine she is.

I’m a very goal oriented person, so I don’t let low motivation get in the way of getting to work, but I do have little things that help reinvigorate the spark.  Here are a couple:

•     Coffee – the world is a great place as soon as I take the first sip of coffee. Yes, my name is Jennifer St George and I’m a coffee addict. And, I hate to admit it, I’m also a coffee snob.  We have about fifty coffee shops in my town, but I’ll deign to visit only three (don’t hate me)
•     Exercise – there’s nothing like a run on the beach, a walk up to the Byron Bay lighthouse, or a gym session to inject those endorphins. I find the hardest part about writing is all the sitting down. I must invest in one of those treadmill desks! (Taking my own advice, I just went for a run and have solved a major plot problem – hooray!)
•     My dog – Toffee, our cavoodle, never gets down. She is a walking (not talking) bundle of energy, enthusiasm and joy. She loves everybody and everything (okay, she’s scared of pinecones, but everyone has their foibles). Just seeing her wander through the world, is enough to make me happy. Taking her for a walk is an exercise in improving eagerness
•     Reading my favourite authors – I have a lot of romance books. Shelf upon shelf upon shelf.  Sometimes I just need remind myself of the joy of reading.  I grab a book and open at any page and just read a chapter or even a few pages. It’s usually enough to inject the passion
•     Just @#$%##@ do it – And when all else fails, there’s the ‘the knuckle down and do it’ approach. It’s this strategy I’m planning to employ for the next few days – wish me luck!

When you feel your motivation ebbing, do you have any little tricks to pump your passion, encourage the endorphins or ignite the inspiration?  I’d love to hear.