These tips on motivating yourself to write are gleaned from last year’s #AcWriMo tweets. There’s a lot more good, practical advice to be found amongst last year’s tweets, as collected and shared by the Wolfson Research Exchange, University of Warwick.
- Have a (rough) plan and/or outline: A plan for what to write, & a plan for when to write it.
- Join a writing group or find a writing buddy: share plans, problems & feedback. It sometimes helps to keep you focused if you will report to others. Why not find a writing partner on Piirus?
- Stop being over critical: just write. Try Freewriting to overcome writer’s block. Remember, you can switch on your internal editor once you have a first draft!
- If you are a procrastinator: set yourself deadlines, and take them seriously: envisage the future where you lose out because you didn’t take the time to do your best.
- You don’t need to read every relevant source before you start to write: if you take notes on what you want to write about a source, as you read it, then you have already started writing, but don’t use reading as a substitute for writing!
- Accept that perfection is not possible: every single edit attempt will find things to be improved.
- Reward yourself for completing tasks along the way.
- If you’re too tired to write: work on your references.
- Consider writing with a pen and paper: switch off all Internet distractions.
- Remember that academic writing is hard, so don’t worry that you find it hard!
What keeps you going when your desire to write flags a little? Leave us a comment below or get in touch directly.
You can follow @Piirus_com on Twitter, look out for our tips with the hashtag #piirustips
Share your comments and feedback