Are you having trouble keeping up with your writing goals?

Are you struggling to finish a manuscript or stumped on writing the last few lines of a scene? If you’re distracted or unmotivated, there are ways to get back on your writing journey. 
Life gets busy, and sometimes, it feels impossible to write two hundred words, let alone a thousand or five thousand words. To ease your mind, it’s best to make realistic goals, ones you can control. Give yourself time to work toward them. 
Don’t give up. You may need to take a break or rethink your writing goals. 
If you make the time to write but struggle to get words down, be gentle with yourself and permit yourself to write without barriers and expectations. Write for the fun of it. No pressure.
Find your space—at a coffee shop, an office, the kitchen table, wherever. Set up your space for comfort. Coffee or tea in hand, listen to music, or sit in silence—find your happy place. 
Be committed and stick to a schedule. Make achievable weekly goals to avoid feeling overwhelmed. By breaking up the week, it makes it easier to see an end goal. 
Use tools to get your writing done. An egg timer or your phone's stopwatch app are great ways to learn not to overthink what you’re writing. Set the time and write without judgment. Journaling can warm up your brain. It’s not only a great self-care initiative because it releases thought, but it’s a good way to engage your feelings and create. 
Enter a contest or a pitch party that can give you a goal and force you to finish a project.
Want to feel motivated? Talk to another writer who is on the same journey. There’s nothing like conversing over the challenges and triumphs of the publishing world than with someone who knows. The burst of ideas and energy from another creator is inspiring. 

​Breaking down your to-do list is helpful. If you’re a committed writer to publish your work and have a deadline, you may be overwhelmed with tasks. Not only for finishing a story but there’s marketing and promotion to do as well. For example, if publishing a book is on the horizon and you’re writing another book while you need to promote your upcoming one, dividing your day into time spent writing and marketing will help you manage. Tell yourself you’ll spend an hour writing and the next hour will be updating your website and making promotional images for social media. 
Writing can come as waves of attaining your goal to struggling to make a word count. Try penciling in between ‘chores,’ which is to write 100 or 500 words. You may feel like you’re on an obstacle course, going from one place to another, but it’s one way to keep moving and exercising your brain. 
Working under pressure. Deadlines can be stressful, but it can also be a great motivator. Working toward your goal and rewarding yourself for accomplishing a word count or writing the back cover, should be celebrated. Maybe you reward yourself with a treat or meet up with a friend.
The best way to complete a project is to sit down and write. There is no other way to accomplish what you set out to do than by doing it. If you want to write, write.
 
Do you have a writing tip you want to share? I’d love to hear it. Post it in the comments.