WRIMOS. IT’S WEEK THREE.

Oohhhhhhh you’re halfway there!

[You can—and should—watch the entire video of Swifty, John Bon Jovi, and PRINCE FREAKING WILLIAM singing “Livin’ on a Prayer” here.]

No, but really, at this point, you probably feel like you’re livin’ on a prayer.

I definitely do.

I’m at the point in my manuscript where I need to write a Big, Pivotal Scene.

And I have zero motivation to write it.

Every time I go to tackle it, I take a deep breathe and pump myself up and read over my paltry outline and think about what I’m going to write.

I know what the scene looks like. I know what goes down during the scene. I know how the characters react.

And yet, when it comes to sitting down and banging out the words, I just don’t want to.

And so I end up staring at the computer, taking lots of deep breaths, writing a couple sentences, and then getting on Pinterest.

This is not a good way to get anything done, in case you were wondering.

Weirdly, something that has worked to motivate me to write in the past is to read a book. It lets me focus on a different story, one that isn’t mine, for a while and then when I’ve read the book, I feel rejuvenated and refreshed and ready to write my story again.

That hasn’t worked this time around. And I’ve read two books.

So I just need to power through. Because there is no trick for lack of motivation. I can’t wait for inspiration because I’ll be waiting a damn long time. So I just have to, as Nora Roberts is fond of saying, put my ass in the chair and write.

If you’re feeling similarly unmotivated this week, know that you’re not alone. Writing is hard. It’s exhausting. It’s mentally and emotionally taxing.

But, you and I started NaNoWriMo because we wanted to write a 50,000 words in a month. And we can do this.

We can get past this lack of motivation.

We can write that scene that seems so daunting.

We can do this.

And if you’re having a hard time hitting your word counts this week, here’s my advice: don’t worry about the word count.

Because, really, who cares? Write as much as you can each day. If that’s 100 words, that’s great. It’s 100 more than you had yesterday. So don’t let yourself get wrapped up in word count numbers. Just focus on what you can get done today. And be proud of getting any words at all on the page.

But what if I don’t end up hitting the goal of 50,000 words?, you ask.

You have two more weeks to hit your goal of 50,000. So don’t worry about not hitting your goal yet.

Because the bright side is that we still have plenty of time.