Motivation II

Back in May I first wrote about motivation. At the time, I was talking about my motivation or, at that moment, the lack thereof. It was a temporary thing that happens to me near the end of a novel. I work through it and move on.

But today I am pondering the lack of motivation from a different angle.

I have a friend __ an older man __ who is a writer and has been for most of his adult life. He has a master's degree in writing (I think that's what the degree is in) from Iowa State. He is a wonderful man, a joy to talk to, listen to and to read.

When I was his editor at The Philadelphia Tribune, we had the worst fights. He would fight me over every word he wrote. But we respected each other, respected each other's talents and our individual desires to have the article at its very best when it appeared in print.

But he was also an author, a writer of plays and novels. Because his political views are far to the left of mine, I often disagreed with his perspective but I loved his writing, his passion and his expression.

When I was talking to him last week regarding the recent death of another reporter we both knew, my friend said to me that he was having a harder time getting out of bed in the morning and he wasn't writing. He lacked motivation.

I know he was concerned about it but it terrified me, and not just for him. What if I one day woke up and lost the motivation? What would I do? Who would I be?

Writing is hard, hard work. And frankly, I don't like to do it because I am lazy. But what I truly love is having written. I get some pleasure out of writing this blog, for instance, but, once I am finished, will derive tremendous pleasure out of having written it.

I finished a short story last week and am still living off of the high of having written those 7,000 words. And it's how I feel about my two finished novels, and on the parts of my currently unfinished novel.

I don't know what to say to my friend except pull yourself together. But in my life, I hope to keep writing until it is no longer physically or mentally possible. And that, I hope, won't occur until the end of my life.

Just a thought . . .

Thanks for reading and definitely keep writing.