The following is an excerpt from my book on writing and marketing what you’ve written: Writing the Entertaining Story.

Writers? Parent yourselves.

Another technique to help yourself to do what you want to do, writing-wise, is to promise yourself rewards. In other words, bribe yourself. This is basically a form of parenting your inner child, and I heartily recommend motivating yourself in this way. For example, you could tell yourself that you will buy yourself some sort of small reward when you finish your short story, a larger reward if you finish a novel, and little interim rewards when you reach certain milestones in word count or finish other writing issues like doing an edit. These need not cost much. In fact, they need not cost you anything at all.

You know what motivates you. Whether it’s watching your favorite show on Netflix, buying yourself flowers, going for a long walk in a park, going out to dinner, or whatever else tickles your fancy… the main thing is it has to be something that you really want. Tell yourself that you will not allow yourself to have that thing until you’ve reached some sort of writing goal. Once you get into the habit of doing this, you’ll be amazed at how much more writing you can get done!

I promised myself a reward when I finish writing this book. I’m not telling you what it is, but I can tell you that it is motivating the heck out of me. Go ye and do likewise.

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Writing the Entertaining Story is free on Kindle Unlimited, and available as an ebook and paperback. You might want to pick up a copy with your holiday Amazon gift card, or for a writer friend.