Video of a Novel: Day 56

Consistency and Motivation

"So many things. How impossible it is for me to think. Just writing words, but the thing is starting in my brain. I must get the tempo."

This was Steinbeck's state of mind on his 56th day of work on Grapes of Wrath, and it feels oddly familiar: the grasping for a tempo, the many things going on in life outside the book.

And yet, he pushed forward, kept showing up. And I think that's what's important, because if we can show up when we're not feeling motivated, we'll be there at the desk when the motivation finally arrives. And that's when something special can happen, either in quality of writing or quantity.

That's what I'm talking about in today's video: the pairing of consistency with the arrival of motivation.