The Motivation to Write

It was a gorgeous Sunday morning, one of the few really spring-like days we'd had during April. I'd spent the last two weeks bundling up against gray, cold skies and dodging rain drops. Now there was so much I wanted to do...walk to the library across the street and find a great book. Go over to the pond and feed the ducks. Shop for new spring clothes. Even do spring cleaning with all the windows open and the warm breeze carrying the scent of cleaner away. Any or all of those ideas would have been appealing.

Instead, I plodded over to my computer, powered it up, and started working on two writing projects that were coming due.

Why did I do that? What motivated me? To answer that question, it helps to know that there are two basic types of motivation: external and internal.

External Motivation

External motivation is usually anything but subtle. It's the boss over your shoulder. It's the hungry cat who isn't pleased with her empty food dish. It's the row of zeroes in your bank account. It's the looming deadline. It's your best friend and writing partner, who seems to have momentarily turned into demon spawn, and has been nagging and nagging at you to work on that novel...

Internal Motivation

Internal motivation is harder to pinpoint. It's the thrill of a perfectly executed plot twist. It's the satisfaction of knowing you've done a good job. It's the guilty pleasure in finally finding a more-or-less grammatically correct way to work your client's tortured keyword phrase into your prose. It's the magic when a character comes to life and starts talking to you. It's the pride that your words may go out into the world and help someone else.

I'd love to say that I'm a "pure" writer and put words on the screen only out of sheer love for my craft, but that would be pure, unadulterated, 100% crapola. The truth is, I'm influenced by both external and internal motivations.

When I'm working on a dreary set of articles that don't even interest me, I'm not in it for the muse--I'm in it for the money. And, yes, it was a deadline that dragged me away from that gorgeous Sunday morning.

But there have been times--many times--when the sheer joy of what I'm creating pins me to the keyboard until I feel my eyelids become heavy. When I glance out the window, I find I've written straight through the night, and dawn in breaking. I don't believe I'll ever see anything quite as lovely as that shy morning sun peeping out to greet me after a night of productive writing.

I guess you could say, then, that external motivations spur Debra Stang, Professional Freelance Writer, but internal motivations spur Debra, the storyteller, the novelist, the memoirist.

What motivates you to write?

Current Projects

Nine Tips for a Low-Cost Funeral, Suite 101, 4/9/11.