Motivation

Sometimes writing seems like the last thing you want to do, doesn’t it? You know you should be doing it, but you just can’t summon up the motivation. Ever felt that way? I certainly have.

The question, of course, is why? Why can’t you get motivated?

I think a big part of it is that what you write hasn’t yet been getting you noticed lately. So if the last three [or 13 or 30] scripts you’ve written haven’t launched your career into the next level, why should you be motivated to keep spending your time writing? After all, there are lots of other things you could be doing with your time, right?

Like making a cake. Now, that’s a satisfying endeavor. You take a bunch of dry and liquid ingredients that, on their own might be useful, but nothing special, and you put them together with a certain amount of care, you throw them in the oven, and before long you have something that makes the house smell wonderful as it bakes and when it emerges you have something delicious to eat.

Now that’s a satisfying use of your time, isn’t it? You put the time into something and you get a guaranteed result. AND you get to be nourished by that result. On top of which, that nourishment [although, I grant you, perhaps not of the healthiest variety] tastes fantastic. PLUS you can share it with family or friends and they will roll their eyes at the deliciousness of it. You will be lauded as a fantastic baker and people will look forward to future creations that come from your kitchen.

But the other side of the coin is that being a fantastic baker, while a lovely thing to do and to be, leaves nothing behind. The cake, the cookies, the pies are consumed. They vanish. Future generations won’t be able to taste them and be grateful that you spent your time baking them. Unless…

Unless you write the recipe for that fabulous cake down, get it published, and then future bakers might benefit from what you did and be thankful that you were thoughtful enough to document your creativity and write that recipe down.

WRITE. You’d need to write that recipe down. So even with a cake, for it to matter in the future, you have to write it down.

Writing. Whether it’s cakes or screenplays, it ends up being the writing that is essential if you’re going for lasting value.

And the bottom line? With the cake you have instant gratification for your efforts, whereas writing that screenplay means lots and lots of time and energy spent before you produce a finished product—and then you have to try and get it noticed.

So what’s the deal? Why should you bother? After all, baking that cake and writing those recipes down would be way easier than spending months writing a screenplay!

Hmmm… let’s think about this and see if a week brings us any closer to deciding that it’s worth our time to put pen to paper [or fingertips to keys].

Copyright © Diane Lake

10Apr22

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com