My amazing husband came up with the most wonderful idea this week! It's like this. It’s the start of a new year, right? And well, I’m having trouble with motivation. The resolution thing lasted less than 48 hours. Okay, 48 minutes. Brand new year and I’m slugging around the house in sponge rollers, a ratty old housecoat, and dirty Garfield slippers.
So, he notices my blue funk and asks me how my new story is coming along. I shrug. “It’s okay.”
“Tell me about your main character.”
“She’s a woman.”
Silence.
“What else?”
“She’s tired.”
“What’s the plot line?”
“Don’t know yet.”
“What does she look like?”
“Haven’t decided.”
He rummages through the kitchen and finds it stripped clean of all caffeine. He turns and eyes me suspiciously. More rummaging. No chocolate. Not a speck, anywhere.
“You need help,” he says.
“I don’t do drugs.”
“I have an idea,” he says. “You need to reward yourself. How about if we buy up all those Advent calendars that the stores are trying to get rid of and pull out one a month. At the end of the day AFTER you reach your writing goal, lift the tab and pull out your chocolate.”
I give him a deadpan stare. “You think I can be bought so cheaply? I want DeBrand’s.” Nose pointed upward, arms crossed in front of me. “I have my standards.”
He sighs. “All right, we’ll see if DeBrand’s—“
“Truffles,” I say.
He stops. “Okay, we’ll call DeBrand’s—”
“Mocha. Truffles.”
He runs his fingers through his hair. “They’re too big to put in a calendar.”
“Forget the calendar. Just give me the truffles.” My voice borderlines a growl here.
He sighs.
“A truffle a day keeps writer’s block away,” I say like a jingle.
He rolls his eyes. “If that’s what it takes to get you back to work.”
Okay, now he’s talking. The first spark of energy to hit my body in days springs to life and shoots through my body. Chocolate, every day! Like a daily vitamin! If I were a puppy, I’d be chasing my tail right about now.
“That’s what it takes,” I say.
We haven’t purchased the truffles yet, but the very idea has released a floodgate of creativity. My new character now has a face, hair, clothes, quirks, and even some conflict coming around the corner!
You don’t think he’ll back out now that he’s got me motivated, do you?
So what helps you with your DAILY motivation? Please don’t tell me the sheer joy of writing, or I’ll have to hurt you.
Delicious
29 Comments:
ROFLOL DI! Daily Debrand incentives. Why didn't I think of that?
What motivates me? I don't let myself eat lunch until my pages are done.
Chocolate sounds like much more fun, I have to admit.
Diann I just finished reading "Hot Tropics and Cold Feet". I loved it. I am 23 but it did not affect me at all. I laughed so hard. It was exactly what I needed. Thank you. Please write another story about Maggie. Brittanie
www.xanga.com/booklover1983
A new contract would motivate me!
Seriously, I know y'all love DeBrand's, but Peterbrooke chocolate popcorn is to die for! Peterbrooke Chocolatier is Jacksonville-based, a landmark in our city, and is going into franchises soon. They developed chocolate popcorn. Oh, my goodness. What's better than sweet AND salty? Sorry. I couldn't help bragging.
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED your post. The way you wrote it, the humor, everything!
LOL..
I can just see you in your housecoat and rollers.
Love your post!
And hey brittanie your my age!
I'll have to visit your blog girl.
I get these to-die-for Christmas almonds here in Germany. I've been rationing them over the past weeks since Christmas is over and I won't have any more for another year. Then yesterday I found a shelf of them discounted by 75% percent. I bought 5 packs. I'm thinking of going back for more.
One a day seems fair for reaching my writing goal. Lucky for me my writing goal is very, very low: write as much as I can before the little ones wake up. It's my only quiet time all day! (Mmm, a chocolate almond for beakfast!)
D, you don't eat lunch until your pages are done?!!!! I'd be whining around the house, banging my head on the desk if the words didn't come and I couldn't eat. I like my system better. LOL!
Whoohooo, Brittanie, you made my whole day!!! I don't even need chocolate!!!!
Peterbrooke CHOCOLATE popcorn, Kristy? Now that sounds exciting! I'll have to see if DeBrand's has chocolate popcorn! *g*
Hi, Anna! Housecoat and rollers--don't think on that vision too long. It could traumatize you.
Hey, Reese, good point! I need to keep my writing goal, um, to a minimum--that means MORE chocolate!!! Whoohoooo!!!
D, you are too weird. I'd have to get my pages done in 2-3 hours. There would be no email. Life as I know it would be over.
Di, you've got me craving mocha truffles. You're bad!
Diann, you brightened my day. As for me...don't kill me...but an excel spreadsheet and competition with myself keep me going. I won't let myself quit until I hit that magic little number. I love to watch the total word count grow. I have to have deadlines...even if the only one who knows about them is me. And then I tell a couple people, because even if they don't ask, I know they could....
Motivation? Knowing that school will be out in a few months and quiet time at home will be limited. I have to write as much as I can right now. Do you get to where you hate the words you've written? This is honestly the hardest thing I've ever done and you guys make it look soooo easy! LOL
Well I was going to say, "The sheer joy .." Oh, nevermind--pass me a truffle please :)
You can't blame me, C, you're as bad as I am, and you know it! That's why we're such great friends! But I shudder to think if we were both stranded on a desert island with only one truffle between us.
Cara, I understand about the self-imposed deadlines. I do it all the time. Don't follow them, but I set them. *g*
Suzanne, it's NOT easy! I hate my words most days, unless I'm deliriously drugged by chocolate. LOL!
ROFLOL, Julie!
Okay so what it would take to bribe one of you into bringing me a box of Debrands to the next conference? I've got all sorts of goodies I can throw in: macadamia nut popcorn, chocolate covered macadamia nuts, fun Japanese candies the kids or grandkids would love in the shape of everything gummy. LOL
Y'all are seriously giving me a chocolate craving and I'm supposed to be trying to cut out sugar. Yeah, like that's happened yet this year. LOL
Still I felt so much better when I did it I'm thinking about doing it again. Three weeks in the ninth circle of hell here I come. :/
"Slugging around the house in sponge rollers, a ratty old housecoat..." You crack me up!
Pam
P.S. I've never had a DeBrand's or even seen one...so I'm going to have to ask a dumb question: Are the (gorgeous, yummy-looking) chocolates in the picture DeBrand's?
You guys always talk about the chocolate...but I use to love getting a sundae at Debrand's. They make these beautiful chocolate bowls and drizzle the most amazing sauces over your sunday. I'd always get raspberry. It tasted like a red tootsie pop. Then they top it off with whipped cream and a huge pecan. Mmmm. And my son loves their chocolate pennies and cars.
And yes, those look like Debrand truffles. ;)
Those truffles are THE best. I think they might motivate me too.
Sure, Malia, I'd be happy to bring you truffles next time I see you--the key will be remembering!
Julie, I saw your new book, Chocolate Beach, at the bookstore today!!! It was on a table disply of chocolate with Lori Wick's book on chocolate and RV There Yet (which has a character who is a chocolatier), chocolate candy and mocha cups!! Whoohooo, CONGRATS!!!!
Okay, I want to see a show of hands. After reading this post, how many of you went out and ate chocolate? ROFLOL!!
I did. And that is so cool about Julie's book, Chocolate Beach! Way to go Julie!
I shall pray for you all...I have managed to kick the chocolate habit. I think beating the Vicodin I was on a few years ago was easier...probably because the prescription was over...but my problem is that my wife is (and this has been proven) the world's greatest artist in the kitchen. She makes Chocolate Raspberry Cheese cake, Double chocolate chip, heath crunch caramel cookies, Peach, chocolate, cheesecake surprise (the surprise is a dose of Peach schnapps) and TERAMASUE with espresso, chocolate, ladyfingers toasted to perfection and Irish Creame.
It wasn't easy...
Also, don't kill me either...I get so carried away writing I've almost broken a keyboard or two...
Diann, you're currently my favorite person. LOL I'll be happy to trade a couple of boxes of chocolates for Debrands.
Surpisingly, I didn't go out and eat chocolate. Don't kill me, but I'm currently on a sugar purge. Not to last forever, I'd die, just until I see if it helps with a few health issues. :)
You are too funny! And yes, I write for the sheer joy of writing.
LOL.
And Diet Coke. Only too much of that and whooo... is too much of that.
I love how Jim gets right in there. Tony says, "How's it going."
"Okay" Big sigh.
"Good. Just have fun, babe." And he's gone.
I love how Jim asks about your protag and inquires about her motivation!
You da bomb, Di.
Well, before I would just write because I needed the satisfaction of getting something done, no matter how small it seemed to anyone else.
But my first boyfriend broke up with me last night and when I tried to write today I was really angry because my MC and her boy are getting along really well. So I threw a wrench into things. And now my motivation is making my characters as miserable as I am...at least for a time. MUAHAHAHAHAHA. *ahem*
Good for you! Get those frustrations out on your characters, Kayla!! And save that writing! One of these days you may need to draw on that emotion, and you'll be able to write the scene because what you write today will help you remember. You'll be able to put the reader right in the scene.
I'm sorry you're hurting right now, but don't let it get you down too long. Eat a bag of M&Ms and move on. He doesn't deserve you.
Thanks, Diann! If nothing else, at least this experience has helped me in my writing. I was stuck at 50,000 words and needed a plot twist, and this gave me the needed angst to throw one in because I'm not sympathetic fo them right now :)
We're having a baby shower for my cousin tonight, and I claimed half of the delicious cake that my aunt makes...and no one argued. YES. Impending sugar high.
I'm seriously going to have to get some debrands. . . never had them. My Godiva addiction is bad enough.
I won't discuss writing motivation. . . .Thank goodness, I'm not a writer. Just a reader.
And Hot Tropics is out? {grin}will have to make my second trip to the bookstore for the week.
Mmmm DeBrand. I gave some to my editors and agent this year. They were VERY happy, let's put it that way.
Did I mention my husband and I made chocolate truffles this year? We made them dark since we like dark chocolate. Mmmmmmmm.
Camy
I finished Hot Tropics & Cold Feet last night! VERY good, I laughed, I cried and I ate chocolate. I think George was very funny & I loved that mental picture you created for me! Thank you!
Thanks for telling me, Diann! I didn't know it had made it into stores yet--guess I was too busy stuffing my face with truffles!!! Hee--hee!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Suzanne, so glad you enjoyed Hot Tropics! It's so good that someone besides my mother enjoys the books. *g*
Hey, Princess Chick! (waving wildly here) You must have a very special mom if she's able to motivate you. LOL (To all other GWO readers, Princess Chick is MY daughter. ;-) Cinnamon dolce latte, huh? Now YOU'RE motivating ME!
Post a Comment
<< Home