Having a schedule, a goal, and sticking to it. It took me years to figure out I needed to set a time to write. If I didn’t I’d either put it off or write too much then burn myself out. So I set a goal of 4 pages a day six days a week (about 1k words). Several years ago I upped that to 2 sessions a day. Right now, as I have the time, I’m experimenting with 3 sessions a day.
What I see now about my schedule is that it lights a fire under me. The more I write the more I finish. The more I finish the more I need to have more to write. I’ve also trained my brain to know that writing time is when I should write. I still get excited about telling stories, and that helps a lot too.
It took years and I had to start small. I miss sessions every so often. But i’m at the point where, if I’m not writing at my writing time, I miss it and feel bad about not writing.