The Best Writing Motivation In Existence

By the time this post is going live, the National Novel Writing Month and thus my Petite Writing Month is going to last less than seven days. Even though I am a few words behind - since weekends and Mondays always function as catch-up days, I am keeping my optimism hat on!

After all, I managed to write for 26 days on the trot! This is far more than I ever managed in previous NaNos. One time I gave up after three days because I realized that this is a lot of words ... Last year, I think I started to flatter in the middle of the second week, and attributed this to "life gets in the way" hence giving myself a free pass for giving up.

However, this time life also got in the way, and it is going to get very much in the way the coming week. Still here I am with my sleeves rolled up, willing to fight until the last moment and up until 23:59 on this Thursday. Then I'll sit sleep-deprived in front of the laptop screen trying to squeeze some sort of coherent sentence out of my brain. Actually, coherence does not matter - as long as it is words!

As I sat on my desk, quietly procrastinating away I did wonder what it was that motivated me keep going at this project.


There must be something that kept me motivated through all those days. It can't be my crippling perfectionism, because I have been quite willing to give up on this challenge before. Or maybe I am a more rounded and wiser human being than I was a year ago ...

The fact that this year's goal is different from the other times is a major factor to keeping at this challenge. I am "just" trying to reach 30.000 words - 1.000 per day. This keeps me on my toes and alert, while it still seems like a reachable goal.

Furthermore, I have seen many others taking part in NaNo. I see the motivational tweets on floating around, and people giving each other pep talks. I post almost daily updates with my word-count. I see the response, and each little heart feels like a small cheer from someone: "Great stint, Susanne, well done!"

Petite #nanowrimo update:
2283 words + 4 from a graphic I edited earlier today 😜

— Susanne (@floralcars1) 19 de noviembre de 2017

Since the month nears its end, I am somewhere stuck between two moods: One is actually looking forward to the month ending because then I am going to be free of pressure. While the other is desperately clawing onto the last bit of energy, urging me not to give up. The finishing line is already in sight. Let's just bring this home!

Hence, I sit here, in front of the laptop - sometimes with music, other times without music. Sometimes I have made camp on the bed, then I sit at the desk, or even on it when I fancy it. Often I write in the afternoon, but then I find myself typing out words in the morning as well.

However, there is one constant. It is the magic substance that keeps me going. It is always there, it is almost like home. It helps me to find the will to life in the morning, and orders the mess in my foggy brain when needed. It is a beautiful warm liquid, and comes in various shades of brown.

This substance is known as coffee. It is the best writing motivation there is!