Motivation in Organisation - #ThinkyThursdays 4

So for Thinky Thursdays 4 I have decided to muse on the topic of motivation, since I have had a few problems in that area lately.

Motivation in Organisation

So for a few months I have felt as if I was in something of a rut. I published my last novel back in March and I had all these plans to get more out really quickly and none of them panned out.

Same with my blog, everything was really great during April for the AtoZChallenge and then I had no ideas.

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Well I think I've figured out what I need to stay motivated: organisation.

I know that may sound weird, but it seems to work for me. For example, let's look at my blog. I was ticking away with the odd post, but nothing really special and then the idea for Monster Mondays hit me. It's a regular post on a regular day with a theme. What's more I think I've only missed one, possibly two, since I started it.

The fact I had a schedule motivates me.

That the posts have a style and a layout, motivates me.

In fact it worked so well I had the crazy idea of adding a theme to all my other work days as well. Now I have:

• Monster Mondays - posts about my favourite monsters be they human, alien or supernatural
• Tips Tuesdays - posts with tips from recipes to how to format eBooks
• Writerly Wednesdays - posts about writing and publishing including guest posts/interviews from other authors and bloggers (if you would like to take part, please fill in this form - I have lots of spots available and would love to host you)
• Thinky Thursdays - posts about whatever happen to cross my mind during the week
• Fan Fridays - the day I get to geek out about something I love

Now I don't force myself to do a post for every one each week - but I will not go less than three out of five unless there are exceptional circumstances. I really think it's the organisation of having themes and knowing what my schedule it which has motivated me in this area. My blog seems to be flourishing thanks to it.

Then there is what started me thinking about this today in the first place. I mentioned on Tuesdays about the new novel writing software I found called yWriter (Finally Found Some Wonderful Novel Writing Software I Like - yWriter - #TipsTuesdays 6). It has helped me organise one of my current work in progress and my productivity is through the roof.

It took me a couple of hours to add in all my characters, locations and items as well as putting in the existing text. Since that point I have:

1. Organised the whole novel, deciding what scenes need to be added in and where, so I now have a (almost) complete scene and chapter list. There is just a little bit right at the end to decide about. 
2. Finally figured out the two major plot points that have had me stalled for months.
3. Written 9000 words in three days on scenes that have been bugging me for months, and they just flowed.

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I honestly think this is all because I organised things. For some reason having everything modularised and laid out motivates me. I am having a ball. Once I have finished this novel all the other WiPs are going into this program too. I think the act of doing the organisation actually stimulates something in my brain. It probably has something to do with why I actually enjoy categorising and alphabetising our DVD and Blu-ray collection and our library of books as well :).

Do you find organisation helps to motivate you? What are your strategies for staying motivated?

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Still pimping out the Share a Scare Halloween Blog Hop. It will run on the 31st October as you would expect, but now is the time to sign up.

Have something a little bit scary to share? All bloggers, authors and artists welcome. Just click the link to see all the details:

Share a Scare - A Halloween Blog Hop