The journey of writing your first manuscript, crafting a book proposal, or building your author brand is both exciting and daunting but once the initial excitement buzz wears off, the hardest part can be staying motivated. If you are feeling this pain, here are some strategies and tips that have helped me keep my momentum going, so that you can also feel the satisfaction of seeing your projects through to completion.

1. Make a plan.

Commit to writing 500 words a day or a chapter each week, or finishing your book proposal by a specific date. This will help you avoid feeling overwhelmed and procrastinating and when at the end of say six weeks you see the evidence of your hard work, the sense of accomplishment you’ll feel will motivate you to keep going.

2. Stay inspired.

Surround yourself with inspiration. Read books in your genre, listen to audiobooks not in your genre, follow authors you admire on social media, and consume content that fuels your creativity. Sometimes, seeing what others have accomplished can be the biggest motivator.

3. Embrace the journey, not the outcome.

It's so easy to focus solely on the end goal of publishing your book or building your brand. However, finding joy in the writing process is what will keep you motivated. Finishing a chapter, receiving positive feedback, overcoming writers block, these are all small big wins to celebrate.

4. Visualise success.

Visualisation can be a powerful tool. Picture your finished book, imagine holding it in your hands, seeing it on the bookshelves of Waterstones. Think about your author website live, attracting readers, building a community. While it doesn’t of course guarantee outwards signs of success, but it will help keep you inspired and staying motivated. Most importantly, it’s fun to use your imagination this way to fuel your productivity.

5. Keep learning.

There’s always something new to learn. Attend workshops, read books not just on writing but biographies and memoirs of people you admire. Absorb what you can on areas of self-development, psychology, how the mind works. Stay updated with industry trends to fuel inspiration, subscribe to creative newsletters. Go wherever interests you with curiousity, so it’s not another thing you have to add to your list but something that you can get lost in. Anything that takes you out of your own head where self-doubt, self-sabotage can lie.

6. Remember your why.

This is your purpose, why you are writing the book, querying literary agents facing rejection after rejection, creating content without knowing what the outcome will be. Remind yourself of this, whenever you’re feeling unmotivated or uninspired.

7. Stay positive.

The right mindset is everything. It’s the difference between giving up, or seeing your projects through. It’s the difference between having the courage to step outside of your comfort zone, or letting self-doubt get in the way of your progress.

8. Stay healthy.

This isn’t necessarily an obvious one but maintaining a healthy body with regular exercise, eating mindfully and getting lots of sleep is essential for your mental agility and focus and keeping your energy up. For showing up consistently. When you are rested and feeling good, creativity and inspiration flows.

Staying motivated as a first-time writer, is a mix of setting clear achievable goals, embracing the creative process not just the outcome, allowing yourself to dream, to be inspired, to learn. Every writer faces challenges, but with persistence and passion, you can achieve your writing dreams. Happy writing!

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