Quote of the Day: "You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." —Jack London

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Greetings, Friends!

I have had zero motivation for a couple months now. Well, that’s not true. I’m motivated to watch Stranger Things, to feed peanuts to my little squirrelly squirrels, and to indulge in way more cheesecake than I should, as of late.

But I’ve had no motivation, really, to do much else. Once I figured out that my motivation level was a -10, I decided to force myself to become motivated.

That may sound counterintuitive, but I want you to try it. Try to force motivation. Here’s what I did to get my butt in gear and write, write, write.

1. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Not 9 minutes, not 11—just 10 minutes.

You may know this as the Pomodoro Technique. Now, I was so unmotivated that the normal 25 minutes seemed astronomical, so I did 10 minutes instead. And yes, as soon as that timer went off, I wanted to keep writing! It really, really works, and I want you to try it.

2. Wrote something completely, totally different. 

I decided to write something brand new. Because the essay will be anonymous, I can’t talk about the topic, but I can say this: By the time I was done, I had over 1,300 words. I felt like a friggin’ superhero! The words came easily because I wasn’t trying to work on something I’ve been working on forever.

3. Reread Amazon reviews.

Hey, maybe it’s vain, but I don’t care. Seeing what other people think about my books made me smile. One of the reviews for Savage Indulgence simply said: “Really original and really creepy. Very well written and incredibly natural dialogue. Looking forward to more from Shayla.” And I thought, Wow, this person wants more? Well, I gotta give ’em more!

4. Looked at the facts. 

It’s easy to ignore what’s really going on in your life, isn’t it? But when I looked at the cold, hard facts, I knew I wasn’t being lazy. Instead, I realized: Since late April, I have dealt with withdrawal symptoms brought on by a medication I’m no longer taking; I helped my best friend through an emergency; I traveled to speak at conferences; I spent time with my husband and family; I started cleaning out shelves and selling our furniture to prepare us for moving; and on and on the list goes. If you’re not motivated to write, is it because you’ve been needed elsewhere for so long? Pay attention to the facts, and it’ll help you to forgive yourself for not writing. 

5. Stopped listening to podcasts featuring high-earning indie authors.

Okay, that’s weirdly specific. I love hearing those stories, but when I’m down and out and feeling guilty for not being creative (why do we do that to ourselves?), it’s probably not a good time for me to hear an author say, and I quote, “I write a book a week.” I mean, that’s phenomenal, but it strangely only made me feel . . . less than. So I ditched those podcasts for now. Not forever, just for now.

And what do you know? I wrote 2,888 words on Monday.

Respond with the things you do to motivate yourself to write. I’d like to feature them in the next newsletter. Just hit reply! 

With Writerly Affection,
Shayla Raquel

P. S. Scroll to the end to see my new free thing for self-published authors. You’re going to love it!

5 Fast Things

1. What I’m Watching: I’m sad to say it, but I had never seen It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so Jeremy and I started watching it. Absolutely hilarious.

2. What I’m Listening To: Counter Clock is a true crime podcast, and listening to Season 4: The Death of John Welles was a trip. If you listen to it, please, please message me so we can discuss.

3. What I’m Reading: Billy Summers (finally) by none other than the King himself.

4. What I’m Laughing At: Baker’s butt. Please enjoy.

5. What I’m Answering: A simple question—Why do you self-publish your books?—but in just 5 words.

Editing Advice

Capitalization is tough. Sometimes my authors want to capitalize important words, but unless they’re a proper noun, they’re lowercased. Here are some examples:

Capitalization:

• Incorrect: her Dad

• Correct: her dad (but “Dad is here!”)

• Incorrect: the Queen

• Correct: the queen (but Queen Elizabeth) 

• Incorrect: Conservation Officer

• Correct: conservation officer

Then, things get weirder when you have a term with a trademark, such as:

• Popsicle

• Frisbee

• Band-Aid

• Magic Marker

If you’re not sure, use M-W.com to verify.

Writing Advice

Somewhere along the way, isolation became synonymous with being a writer. I have never really agreed with that, so today, I’d like to challenge you: Reach out to one writer friend a day for a week and ask them how their WIP is going. It takes one minute, but it makes a world of difference.

Marketing Advice

For my children’s book authors, before you invest your money into an editor, I recommend taking your story and reading it aloud to a few kids. How did they react? Did they get bored because it was too long, or did they ask for more because it was too short? Did they like the ending, or did they complain about it? If you want to know how great your story is, take it straight to your target audience for feedback.

Self-Publishing Advice

I made the handy-dandiest thing ever: The Self-Publishing Author’s Cheat Sheet for Print & Distribution. You can download it here in PNG or PDF.

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A self-publishing mentor, best-selling author, and public speaker, Shayla Raquel works one-on-one with writers every day. A lifelong lover of books, she has been in the publishing industry for eleven years and teaches on author branding, indie publishing, book marketing, and the craft of writing.

Her award-winning blog teaches new and established authors how to write, publish, and market their books.

She is the author of the Pre-Publishing Checklist, “The Rotting” (in Shivers in the Night), The Suicide Tree, The 10 Commandments of Author Branding, All the Things I Should’ve Told You, and “Savage Indulgence.” In her not-so-free time, she studies all things true crime and obsesses over squirrels. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three fur babies.