I have a few phases that I repeat to myself, to keepmotivated day in and day out. Care to share yours?

1) It takes longer to write a scene than it does to read it.

2) If I sketch it out today, it will make writing it easier tomorrow.

3) I can always do a word war on jabber.

Things I keep telling myself:

1) I'm going to finisha storythis time.

2) I'm really serious about it this time.

3) No, seriously, I mean it!

Usually followed by, "I'll do it tomorrow."

1. I'm not that far behind. I can totally still pull this off.

2. Gahhhhhhhhhhhh

3. Zzzzzzzzz

Wait, scratch three...

1.) I'm about 10k behind...

2.) I should be writing. I should really be writing.

3.) I'm stuck.

4.) TWO WEEKS? Seriously? I HAD to catch a virus that takes TWO WEEKS, in NOVEMBER? Seriously? SO not fair...

5.) Yeah... Nap. Now. Write later.

Hmm. These are not good things for "staying motivated." But I'm making progress, really! I woke up before noon today, for the first time in almost a week, and I haven't taken one single nap today! I've spent lots of time very much NOT supporting my weight... but not one single nap! We just won't discuss that the result of all that wakefulness is still under 1,000 words for the day...

1) There are no good writers. There are only good re-writers.

2) The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

3) I'm not writing a novel. I'm writing a word, a sentence, a paragraph.

4) The worst day working on a novel is better than the best day practicing law.

5) Steven King is happy with 8 pages of good work a day. I only have to write 5.

6) OH MY GOD, HAVE I TAKEN LEAVE OF MY SENSES??? WHAT AM I DOING???

7) There's a wine bottle open in the fridge. There's a wine bottle open in the fridge.

Grace Ludovico wrote:

4) The worst day working on a novel is better than the best day practicing law.

5) Steven King is happy with 8 pages of good work a day. I only have to write 5.

6) OH MY GOD, HAVE I TAKEN LEAVE OF MY SENSES??? WHAT AM I DOING???

7) There's a wine bottle open in the fridge. There's a wine bottle open in the fridge.

I really liked the second half of these, especially since I used to think I wanted to be a lawyer (back when I was an undergrad, came to my senses before applying to law school, though.)

1) I read over last year's NaNo and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. So how bad can this one be?

2) Do not go back and edit.

3) Really. Do. Not. Go. Back.

4) Adverbs are my friends in November.

5) I can totally, absolutely, easily, fix this mess in revision.

6) If I just finish my words, I will reward myself with chocolate. And sleep.

• I'm actually mostly keeping to schedule this NaNo (have finally, really caught up)--hurrah!
• Since I'm keeping to my schedule, this is a good omen. It might mean that I will like this finished novel so much that I will edit it in 2014... (on the other hand, I have a decade's worth of novels ahead of it in the queue, including a folder of great comments from Katherine on the Twilight Gem novel... :-O).
• 2013 was a very good year for the Journey; 2014 will be an even better year, so I need to set a good example with my this year's novel...
• Keep it simple! Finish the novel without adding further complications! (and so I am on schedule to do that tomorrow).

I can really empathize with Paula's third one (zzzzzzzzzzzzz...!). Today at the Warrenville write-in I zzzzzz'd out several times (finally drank a Mountain Dew, which worked wonders).