Some of us have no writing deadlines to work with. There’s little pressure and therefore we are more likely to slack off and procrastinate. How do we motivate ourselves to write?
My favorite method is the lovely Write or Die. If you don’t know what Write or Die is already, it basically focuses on word output more than perfection and punishes you if you stop typing. There are four modes: Gentle, Normal, Kamikaze, and Electric Shock, with a Forgiving, Strict, or Evil “grace period” (the amount of time you’re allowed to stop typing before something horrible happens). You also set your own word goal and time period to type. Personally, my favorite mode is Kamikaze/Evil, as I am too chicken to try Electric Shock (what is that anyway? Does anyone know?). And they have a desktop edition too now so you can torture yourself without the Internet 
Word wars come in a very close second. A time limit and a time to start and end are set, and two or more people compete for the highest word count within that time limit. You can do this on the desktop edition of Write or Die as well.
Having other people write with you is always a motivator. Especially if you’re new to a write-in and everyone else there is older than you and working so hard and you get scared if you stop typing they’ll all stare at you with disgust. Not that it ever happened to me.
- Ann X.
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