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I decided I wanted to be a physicist when I was eleven years old. But that was not my earliest ambition.

What was it then? You guessed it right! Writer. Writer, of course.

Photo by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash

I am not exactly sure what triggered it. But I always loved reading and writing. Worked out, academically 🙂

I am always eager to write things down. It is so much more reliable than trying to remember things. Served me well in school, college, and graduate school.

I am a pathological note-taker. I learn by writing.

But my love for writing is deeper than that. It is not an acquired love. It has always been there. Past me wanted to write, present me wants to write, and I think future me will also want to write.

I also really like that I am doing something about the fact that I like writing: writing.

I don’t want to just say that I want to write. I want to actually write.

I didn’t just want to become a writer when I was young. I was writing a book when I was eight.

I didn’t finish it, unfortunately. I concluded I was too young and did not have enough life experience to get all the facts right without doing more research. So, I switched to poetry and did that for a while.

Motivation #1: I like that I am following my childhood dream of becoming a writer. 

How many people can say that? Do most people even remember what they wanted as a child? What they actually wanted in life? Maybe they do, and maybe it’s not important. To me, it is. It is important for me to know that I am following my dreams. To stop and look back sometimes to see how far I have come. It is important to me.

In the age of self-publishing, I have just gone ahead and declared myself a writer. I started this blog earlier this year and decided I was a writer. I make a few cents from it now and then, and I love it. I absolutely adore it.

I really, really like that I am able to help people through my blog. That the blog is useful. I guess I really like being a resource. I have a small audience and it has been really encouraging to have their support.

I have had people tell me that they found my articles helpful, motivating, and inspiring. That they have read my article and directly applied it to something they needed.

Motivation #2: I am thrilled when readers engage with my content. 

This is really obvious to any writer, but I want to make sure that readers know that their likes, comments, and shares mean the world to me. I absolutely notice and care about the engagement levels of each post. I love to hear from my readers. Comments under the posts on my blog are my favorite thing ever.

So, this one is obvious but yeah, audience engagement is like everything to us writers who are working so hard to create content without any form of compensation whatsoever.

If you like our stuff, please engage with it. Comment, please comment. It’s like OXYGEN. And then, SHARE. So, others can read our stuff too and good things can continue to LIVE.

Motivation #3: Questions from readers and people in general. 

This one’s super related to Motivation #2, but it’s so important. As a writer, I am not going to be able to think of everything and every perspective. Maybe what I write is very confusing to some people. Maybe I don’t say everything there is to it. Maybe, you get plain curious about something and I will never know if you don’t ASK.

Addressing actual questions from actual people have led to some of my favorite posts. I am SUPER motivated to write these posts, because right from the start, I KNOW the post will be valuable to, at least, ONE person.

As long as these posts helped the person asking the question, I am happy. In my experience, if one person has a question, chances are others have the same question. So, with posts like these, I know I am on the right track even before I start.

Here are some that started from a question:

How you could become a consultant after graduate school

How much crying is normal?

How much do graduate students get paid as stipend?

Motivation #4: Looking at the number of posts I have. 

This one is harder to explain but it greatly helps me to go look and re-look at the number of posts I have.

I think it greatly helps that I have more than zero posts. The pressure is off. Having zero or very few posts is kind of really discouraging. It means you have to get started first and getting started is the hardest part.

I also do not have even close to the number of posts I’d ideally like to be at, so that also motivates me to keep going. And no, I will not be lectured on how quality is more important than quantity. Both are important. It is important to have quality AND quantity.

So yeah, maybe strange, but it actually, really helps me to look at the number of posts I have already and what I have accomplished so far. It helps me to remember and re-evaluate what is left to be accomplished.

Graduate students: note that the SAME thing applies when it comes to getting your thesis written.

Seeing that you have written one sentence, one paragraph, one page, one chapter,… will help you more than anything to keep going and finish!

More on this later in the post.

Motivation #5: A clean, comfortable, and quiet workspace.

This one’s easy but not to be taken for granted. I can’t sit and write in the middle of a mess. I need peace and quiet, and a clean area.

I think my thoughts and therefore, my writing are more sorted when the things around me are sorted. Then again, writing is like therapy for me and helps me to keep things straight in my head, which helps me to keep things in my life straight. So, it’s just a cycle of good things 🙂

Motivation #6: Seeing that my laptop’s battery has a 100% charge. 

This one might just be me, but it is so nice when my Mac is fully charged and good to go for a long time. Knowing that really helps and motivates me. Pretty much, I always make sure to charge it beforehand these days. And, when I am writing, I have the computer unplugged and I start typing knowing that I have a 100% charge. It really helps!

Motivation #7: Having TIME. 

I love Saturdays. Because I have time on Saturdays to do things like writing. I make time for writing and knowing that I have some time even if not a lot of time motivates me to write. I know I can do it and it is a good feeling.

Motivation #8: Feeling refreshed. 

It greatly helps to be well-rested when I write. My brain is charged and ready to create. Having said that, I have written lots when I am super tired as well, it’s just been a rough experience.

Motivation #9: Upgrading things on my blog. 

I both get stressed out by trying to improve my website and also can’t stop doing it. Usually, after a long session of doing some sort of upgrade, I do feel more motivated to just get back to writing and make it all mean something.

Motivation #10: Everyday life. 

Last but not the least, things that happen everyday motivate me to write. Lots of writing is prompted by real-life experiences and interactions. I try to jot things down on my phone as I go through my day. Everyday life induces ideas when I am least prepared to start writing about them.

Bonus! Motivation #11: Finishing my thesis and graduating!

Starting this blog helped me to take some power back and actually graduate. Grad school can certainly feel like things are not in your control. Which is a very, very depressing and demotivating thought.

Soon after starting this blog, I started pushing out content for my THESIS as well! It really helped to remember that I had more power than I thought. We usually always do…

ALL writing is good and ALL writing is helpful.. at least for future writing. Practice with any kind of writing helps. If you are feeling writer’s block for your thesis, try writing something else.

Getting started with and finishing your thesis is about getting over the hurdle of not having started yet!

Start to write without worrying about it being perfect or even good.

When you are writing, concentrate on writing. Worrying about whether the writing is good is called EDITING! You can always edit and edit and edit later. Editing is self-fueled and there is no end to editing. But if you are at the point of editing, at least, that means you have STUFF to edit and you are on top of the most important thing – writing.

Happy writing and please feel free to share any writing challenges you are facing or any tips that might help to motivate writing!

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