We’ve all been there: you get an idea for a book or a story that you’re really excited about, but the excitement doesn’t last. You eventually find yourself with half of a messy draft and this panicked feeling in your chest as you wonder, Why can’t I just finish the thing?!

So many other writers seem to find it easy to finish a book, so why can’t I? Is there something wrong with me?

There’s nothing wrong with you, and I promise that all those writers you’re comparing yourself to also experience devastating loss of motivation. It happens to everyone. This is no secret, though — writers tend to be very open about the difficulty of their craft, and how pure excitement is rarely enough to get a story to the finish line.

So why do so many aspiring authors hear this message (they must, because it’s everywhere) and then, somehow, choose to ignore it or believe it won’t apply to them?

My theory is that, to actually achieve something major and all-consuming like finishing a novel, you’ve got to suspend a certain amount of disbelief. If you were actually consciously aware of the daunting task ahead of you, you probably would never even take the first step.

So, all this is to say, that kind of complacent arrogance that prompts new writers to believe it’ll somehow be easier for them… is actually really helpful.

The only problem is it only gets you so far.

A lot of writers run out of energy, faith, and motivation before the project is finished. This is only natural. A book takes a long time to write (another informational tidbit that a lot of aspiring authors seem to ignore!). It takes years, as many as four, five, eight, ten. When has the pure, natural excitement of embarking on something new ever lasted for as many as ten years?!

You can usually rely on excitement, arrogance, and faith to get you through at least half of your draft. But these things run out, which means that you’ll need to have something else you can lean on.

And that thing is love.

We can call it other words, too, if love doesn’t work for you. We can call it joy, delight, fascination. The important thing is that it stems from your ability (which you can hone) to find little bits of newness and pleasure in a project that has been chugging along for interminable years.

Finishing a book does involve a certain amount of grit, too. You’ve got to have the discipline to sit down at your desk day after day, putting words on the page no matter what.

But I find that sustaining the work, actually doing a little bit of writing every single day, for years, until eventually the story is as finished as it can be, is made a lot easier if we know how to stay in touch with that inner core of love, fascination, and delight.

I will be speaking a LOT more on the subject at my Motivation Masterclass for Writers on Saturday, October 17th. You can find out more about this online event at Eventbrite and Meetup, or just drop me an email to inquire: maria@aspacetowrite.com