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Are you obligated to write something? Are you being paid for it? Or is it a school paper, due at a future date?
If not, why do it?
Life's way too short to do things you don't want to do. Looking for a "swift kick in the ass" to do something you obviously don't want to do is kind of odd - unless money or a grade is involved.
Screw it. Do something that's fun.
I'm a writer. I get paid to do it, and there are times I don't feel like it, so I don't do it. Then, when I get to it, it goes wonderfully, because there's something in my brain that does the work in a deep, dark place to which I lack conscious access, but if I leave it alone, it does what I need it to do.
Maybe that's what you're about, too. Ever think of that?
All I know is that if you loved it, you'd do it.
I love writing, I really do, and it's easy for me, and fun. But the idea of asking someone to motivate me to do it is just beyond my ken. It's my job, so I do it, and I've never missed a deadline. Come close, but so far, I've been the money player you can count on, and my agent and publisher have no complaints.
So, if you want to write, do it. But, if you don't have to, why would you trouble yourself for not doing it?
Here's a story that might help you:
It was to be my first published novel. I had no idea how any of this worked, having never taken a writing course or even read a book about writing. But I had this author's proof and an eleven-page letter from my editor, detailing the changes she suggested.
We'd already had a few conversations about the edit letter, and I knew exactly what I had to do.
It would be the last time I touched the work before it went to production.
And I froze.
I was scared.
All I'd gotten was praise for my writing up to that point, and now my ass was on the line. I had succeeded, my only dream, and my agent had sold a novel I'd written - the first thing I'd ever written - and what if it sucked? What if I couldn't do all that was in the letter?
Which, really, was very, very little.
So, I called my agent, to whine and see if I could somehow get out of it. Or something.
She's an old pro.
She said, "Open the proof, take out the first page of the letter, and make one change in one sentence, wherever that is in the manuscript. Then quit. You're good for the day."
Buoyed and courageous, I went to my desk, opened both documents, and then left, went to a movie, out to dinner, and avoided my study for the rest of the day.
The next morning, I sat down, and fifteen hours later, the edit was complete, and the marked up author's proof was ready to be FedExed to my publisher.
So, if that story helps you, good.
But, the point is, unless you're under a wire of some kind, go read. Or swim. Or teach a kid to read. Or swim.
Or just eat some ice cream, and trash around on DU.
Life is for having fun. Relax........................
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