Tuesday's Tip: Examine your motivation for writing

I just read such an excellent post by a writing coach I follow which rang so true I had to share it with you here: To Dream, Perchance to Cry, by C.S. Lakin, the author of the blog, Live Write Thrive.

Not only do I feel like that at the end of a completed project, I feel those same waves of momentary depression and perhaps envy mixed with a bit of discouragement every time I finish reading a really good book...watch a really good movie...and I wonder if I'll ever finish...if it will ever get published.

I'm glad to know that I'm not alone. My writing time is not consistent because it is my "other" job...the one that comes after the day job, which often leaves me drained...my eyes feeling heavy soon after I begin reading a bit of research to help me solve a plot or character problem. I write family history memoir and find I get bogged down because of trying to find the detail which moves the story forward and makes the characters believable. Analysis of facts seems to take me forever. I hope I do make it to the end of the race and that there's a wonderful reward at the end so that everyone can share the emotions evoked by the telling of the story.

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In Black and White: Cross-Cultural Genealogy

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