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There are quite a few excuses I have cooked up over why I haven't been working on my book.

Motivation is a funny thing and so is creativity. Sometimes they are the best of friends to me.. other times I'm left alone.

So how do I crawl out of my hole and continue on even when I'm "alone"? This is the writer's plight I'm assuming - or maybe I'm not cut out to be a real writer, who knows. But the issue remains I'm 34 or 35 thousand words into this book - which I had imagined as either a two or three part series. I'm pretty much halfway through the actual writing of the book and I have all the way to the end mapped out pretty much..yet I'm blocking myself in some way or another from working on it.

A million little insecurities pop up when you're so far into a story:

• Is this even good
• My main character is flat - should I rewrite her?
• Should I have written in 3rd person instead of 1st? - Should I start over..
• I have too much back story.. should I move the "beginning" of my plot?
• No one will even want to read this so why continue?
• Is my message too hippie dippie and out there
• Is my basic story line over done - will people think I've mashed together other books and recycled it into mine?
• Are these journal entries really needed? Should I just TELL the story outright?
  • But that ruins a lot of my surprises and plot twists.. does it? can I write new ones?
  • If the journals aren't necessary - are the books I want to focus on unneeded too?
• Are my minor characters predictable ?

So many of these thoughts plague my mind and keep me focusing on the details instead of typing out the story.

Sometimes I think a support group for writers would be a great idea.. maybe a place where writers can meet and team up to help keep each other motivated? I started on this writer's website with the intentions of finding a place like that but it didn't work well - I got a few random comments, which were definitely helpful, but it's only sharing a single chapter or excerpt not the entire plot. I think having someone to run your plot by and get an outsiders view would be very motivating.

I know so many people are scared of having their story ideas stolen and therefore they are skeptical about sharing the details. I understand the basis of this worry but no one can write a sentence the exact way I can or you can. Given the same words to work with we would each craft our own unique placement so there is no worry in that respect, for me, at least. It's not the plot points that make a book great - it's the author's individual flair, their word choice among other things. So I would urge other writers to think about working together in some way to help shape their books and keep them motivated to finish.

This short 20 min write has got my blood sparked a bit - I think when I talk about my story it tends to get me back to the keyboard to put some leg work in. Hopefully this will help - I have quite a bit to go and also a large web of subplots so I do have a ton designing left to do which is half the battle.

I have my main story set but the subplots and minor characters need to come to life.. it's a long process - for me at least. I have been looking for new ways to help me plan out a bit but I keep circling back to just write already - it will come as you get there.

If you have any tricks that keep you motivated to write, ways to build up minor characters or if you're writing a book and interested in doing some kind of partnership/group for writers to bounce ideas off each other let me know!