suzannebookworm

On nights like these we like to call ourselves stargrazers, deep sky tourists. We head up to the headland, where heaven grafts itself to earth, stitching the breeze between our cheekbones, our fingertips. Below, the sea stretches out with an endless hush. You tell me we'll sit in the rift of the tide's smile to keep in touch with the muchness of being and believing. But seeing beyond that pale of blacklight is another matter. You have a map, so you take the back of my hand and paint a picture in mime and synaesthesiac rhyme:      Our sky is like cats' eyes      kaleidoscopin

Motivating myself to write and keeping that motivation throughout a writing project is one of the biggest challenges I face as a writer. I get the impression a lot of other people struggle with it as well. There are a lot of tools out there such as the Write or Die program and National Novel Writing Month designed to keep you motivated, but they're just gimmicks in my opinion. Writing takes a lot of time and effort, and we as humans need a very compelling reason to exert ourselves in such an extreme manner. A timer or deadline typically isn't good enough. The only effective long-term motivator is a real, tangible reward. Finishing a novel i