Today we are very happy and excited welcome author Skylar Cates to Love Bytes for a Guestpost and a Giveaway 🙂

Welcome Skylar!

How To Stay Motivated—A Writer’s Journey

I often get asked how I stay motivated to finish a book. Here are five steps to follow:

1.       Pretend you have no outside life

Don’t answer the phone, skip the mail, let the clothes pile up, and put on a movie for the kids.  Go into your writer’s cave and do not emerge for hours. Real life will still be waiting for you when you return.  Even better? Do not have an outside life.

2. Break up with lousy characters

“It’s not you, it’s me.”

Or…

“I’ve met somebody else.”

I’m sorry, MC, but we need to part. Sometimes an idea simply is not working, whether do to a character issue or a bad plot line, and must be cut loose. Don’t be clingy, it is for the best. Go on to the next story before your motivation runs out.

3. Let’s get physical

Exercise works.  I like swimming. Whenever I do laps, I often work out a problem that has stopped my motivation on a story. The chemicals released from a good workout can free up new ideas.

Drinking can be exercise too (*note: if done vigorously)

Sex is highly recommended (see note on drinking)

4. Cheerleaders and Ass Kickers

If not for the powers of my persuasive, cheerleading, powerful, ass kicking friends, I may not have ever finished a thing. This includes my readers; a simple email from a reader can rev me up to write for sure! I can’t tell you how motivating a kind word can be.  Or a reviewer who notices something valuable in my work can suddenly motivate me. I’m so appreciative for their insights. I keep a file of those things.  Finally, nothing beats the power of an awesome beta reader.  Let them support you. Or let them kick your ass. You need it. You will be grateful for it.

5. Be Forgiving

This is my hardest one.  As a writer, you will make mistakes.  Parts of the novel might not work in that first draft (or even that 100th draft) the way you’d like them to work. Keep going. Get the words out. If you complete a book, you already have done something incredibly valuable. Listen to some music: The Rocky Theme or Chariots of Fire works well here.  Visualize pushing through the muck and reaching the end of the book. You can’t control what others might think of your final result, or even what negative thoughts you might have, but you can complete the journey. Nobody can take that away.

I’m partly joking with my list, of course, but I’m partly serious too. The easiest and the hardest thing to do = get your butt in that chair and write.

Do you have any rules for staying motivated? For writing or for other activities? I’d love to hear some!  Meanwhile, I’m off to try and follow my own advice and work on that next story.

If only I could find the same motivation about cleaning my house….

 

Thanks for hosting me today!

My upcoming release, The Only Guy, is available from Dreamspinner Press.

Blurb:

Aaron Weiss knows how to escape. Years ago, he ran from a romantic disappointment and impulsively joined the Army. Now, he’s forced to take a medical discharge and readjusting to life at home proves a challenge.

Jesse Ross knows how to hide. He realizes he’s an oddball, and that he’s an outsider within his own family. He also knows his secret love since childhood, Aaron, only wants his good-looking, favored older brother. Yet Jesse could never completely abandon his intense feelings for Aaron. Over the years, Jesse was a faithful pen pal to him. Still, he’s shocked to his core to find Aaron on his doorstep.

As long-buried secrets and past hurts take center stage, the two are overwhelmingly drawn to each other. But it’s their future that may force them to risk everything.

 

 

 

The Only Guy  excerpt:

Aaron turned onto another road that had a simple mailbox sitting there in the middle of nowhere that read J. Ross. It was a completely secluded spot, no neighbors anywhere in sight, and all along the unpaved driveway, the trees were lush with leaves, bursting full of vivid reds and oranges and yellows. The sky was inviting, clear and cloudless. Aaron had to admit—

It was so beautiful it almost hurt.

He saw a pretty log cabin nestled at the foothill of a small mountain. Two freshly painted barns stood nearby. He hoped his father had remembered to call Jesse. He’d offered to take care of it, and Aaron hadn’t much cared.

“Oh, well, Jesse. Hope you like surprises.”

Aaron checked himself in the mirror. He thought he looked pretty good. He got out of his dad’s Audi and went to the sturdy wooden door and knocked. Dogs barked wildly, both high yippee-sounding barks and deep low growls, and then the door swung open and a man loomed in front of him.

The words of greeting died on Aaron’s lips.

The man looked completely, late-night, B grade, stalker-movie crazy. Aaron took an instinctive step back.

Wild tangles of blond hair hung down to his shoulders, and his clothes were splattered with what looked like blood. He had an ugly scar that hooked downward from the top of his cheek to where it met the bushiest beard Aaron had ever seen. Only his eyes were familiar, intelligent and fierce, a stormy combination of dark blue with a steely gray ring, staring back at him.

“Jesse?”

“Hi, Aaron,” he said quietly. He opened the door wider for Aaron to enter.

 

Buy link:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

 

BIO: Skylar M. Cates loves a good romance. She is quite happy to drink some coffee, curl up with a good book, and not move all day. Most days, however, Skylar is chasing after her husband, her kids, and her giant dog, Wasabi. Skylar dreams about spending her days writing her novels, walking along the beach, and making more time for her good friends. On a shoestring budget, Skylar has traveled all over in her early years. Although, lately, the laundry room is the farthest place she has visited, Skylar still loves to chat with people from all around the globe.

 

Skylar graciously is offering a giveaway : 

One e-copy of The Only Guy

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