by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart
Earlier this month I sent this idea to the Rubart Writing Academy email list, and based on the feedback, realized it might help you as well. Here’s the idea:
You want to get motivated? Consider the two greatest motivators; pleasure and pain.
Today we’re going to talk about the latter.
Last month, I was on a consulting call with a writer and he asked, “How do I stay motivated, Jim? I have the time, but not the motivation.”
I suggested he embrace a technique I used to great benefit when I was starting out.
- Set a word count goal for the week
- Think of four friends
- Tell them your word count goal.
- Promise these friends you’ll pay EACH of them $50 if you don’t hit your goal
- Add up the money in your head and realize you’ll be shelling out $200 if you don’t make your word count
- Try not to trip as you race to your writing spot and start composing
In my first critique group back in 2006, we did this with each other and wow, did it work! (Your mileage may vary.)
More than once I was up till 11:59 pm, racing to hit my word count before the clock struck midnight, and I was out two Benjamins. Same for my critique partners. (No, none of us ever had to pay.)
Yes, it might be painful. Once. I doubt you’d miss your goal again.
To you, and your manuscript getting finished faster than you might have believed possible.
What if You Woke up One Morning and the Darkest Parts of Yourself Were Gone?
Toren Daniels vanished eight months back, and his wife and kids have moved on—with more than a little relief. Toren was a good man but carried a raging temper that often exploded without warning. So when he shows up on their doorstep out of the blue, they’re shocked to see him alive. But more shocked to see he’s changed. Radically.
His anger is gone. He’s oddly patient. Kind. Fun. The man he always wanted to be. Toren has no clue where he’s been but knows he’s been utterly transformed. He focuses on three things: Finding out where he’s been. Finding out how it happened. And winning back his family.
But then shards of his old self start to rise from deep inside—like the man kicked out of the NFL for his fury—and Toren must face the supreme battle of his life.
In this fresh take on the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, James L. Rubart explores the war between the good and evil within each of us—and one man’s only chance to overcome the greatest divide of the soul.
James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man’s body. He thinks he’s still young enough to water ski and dirt bike with his two grown sons, and loves to send readers on journeys they’ll remember months after they finish his stories. He’s the best-selling, Christy BOOK of the YEAR, CAROL, INSPY and RT Book Reviews award winning author of nine novels, a speaker, branding expert, co-host of the Novel Marketing podcast, and co-founder of the Rubart Writing Academy. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in Washington. More at jamesLrubart.com