Do I need this book?

I skimmed through that book when I found it in my college library. Personally, I'd say it doesn't help at all. If you aren't motivated to write, then reading a book isn't going to help you.

I think what you need is rough BIC sessions. Sometimes I'm unmotivated, but I just struggle through it, and trust me, once you've got the first 100+ words down, most of the time more come without having to think about it.

Maybe it's because you have things so planned out that you're feeling unmotivated. You know nothing is going to come as a surprise. I had that problem with my WIP at the moment. I wrote every single detail down hoping it would help. Unfortunately, all it did was stop me writing for two weeks. I decided to throw in some random juicy things to get me motivated again and changed a few chapters without so much detail.

Trust me. That book isn't going to help you. Most books probably wont. What will help you is your own motivation.

And sometimes this helps me write when I'm unmotivated. http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html (the 'write or die' website. It does wonders.)

Hope that helped.
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I don't have the book, but I can say that checking out a copy of "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott (I think I spelled her name right) from the library for the motivational part, and setting a daily word count goal for the other part, will get you through a novel in a month, provide you stick with it. Heck, give yourself two months.

Assuming you want to write about 100,000 words in two months, that would be about 1700 words a day, give or take. Double that if you want to do it in a month.

Also, I recommend Chris and Steve York's blog entry on sketching a novel in an hour, not because you need to do that but because the steps they suggest help avoid pitfalls that will later vex you during the polish/critique phase. I used it on a WIP and it helped smooth out some kinks that I didn't know I had.

Good luck!

I'm with Ugawa here. You might not be able to make progress because the story has been in your head for too long, and the ideas are just too stale to get you motivated. You might need to give yourself the freedom to imagine new possibilities for the plot to get a newfound zest for writing it again.

Sometimes, it's beneficial to force oneself to do something one doesn't "want" to. I never *want* to clean the bathroom, but it needs to be done if I do want to not use filthy facilities.

If you want to write, then you may have to force yourself to write. You are the only one who's not forcing yourself to sit down and write. It's self-control and discipline. Good skills to have.

A book can't teach you to be disciplined. The book sounds rather like the same premise used for NaNoWriMo-- sit down and write whether you "feel like it" or not. That's how you pound out a draft. You just write, whether or not it's good or makes sense, or such things. (The benefits of this strategy vary from person to person.) You don't need a book for that. You need to sit down and write however many words or hours or pages a day.

Do you really want this? What's stopping you? What could go wrong? What are you afraid of if you do embark on actually writing this project? (Answering these questions will likely help you more than any book will.)

I don't believe in muses, writer's block, or inspiration. I believe in writing and revising. I work too many hours to squander my precious free time not writing. So, whether I "feel like it" or not, I write. I edit. I plot and plan. During the last two and half years, while working four jobs and some 50-60 hour weeks, I have written over 50 short stories one and a half novels-- all told, some 350k+ words. I did it by writing whenever, wherever, regardless. I refused any excuses I could come up with for why I "couldn't" (with the exception of the weeks when my hours at work shot up to the 70+ hour range or I was sick.)

Why don't you instead set some money aside. Tell yourself that if you can complete your goal of writing X number of words this month, you will take the money and buy yourself something you really want (a festive new hat, hardback book, whatever). Then put a picture of Really Cool Thing next to your writing space to inspire you!

Clair Dickson said:

I don't believe in muses, writer's block, or inspiration. I believe in writing and revising. I work too many hours to squander my precious free time not writing. So, whether I "feel like it" or not, I write. I edit. I plot and plan. During the last two and half years, while working four jobs and some 50-60 hour weeks, I have written over 50 short stories one and a half novels-- all told, some 350k+ words. I did it by writing whenever, wherever, regardless. I refused any excuses I could come up with for why I "couldn't" (with the exception of the weeks when my hours at work shot up to the 70+ hour range or I was sick.)

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You're an inspiration to us all .
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