₦airaland Forum

vickybby:
Well,must say thanks a million for taking your time to sharing great tips,and do hope for more updates....see you then.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you found these rips interesting.

Ogamysamo:
i've started and stop half way too many times, maybe with these i'll start again sometime tanks op for your words

Please do start writing again. I hope to read your work someday.

Creative writing is one of the most demanding jobs one can have. It goes without saying that many writers lose steam along the way, abandoning writing altogether or even choosing a different job that is easier to do.

From experience, I see that motivation is what keeps one going when the days are dark. But how does one stay motivated to write when faced with discouraging events that seem to make it hard to sit your butt down and write? The following points might help.

DEFINE YOUR WRITING GENRE AND STICK TO IT
I see a lot of nairaland writers passing themselves off as being able to write all genres. That's the number one mistake most writers make. Every writer, whether they are conscious of it or not, has a unique writing style that differentiates them from others. Identify yours and develop it because that's your unique selling point. Delving into areas you're not so good at will only serve to make your work unappealing and unoriginal. Ultimate, it will make you lose motivation. Don't try to be a jack-of-all-trade writer.

However, this is not to say that you should limit yourself to just one genre if you have the talent and the capacity to do more.
Only be sure to identify your areas of strength and maximize your potential in that area. That way, you'll always stay motivated.

LET YOUR EXPECTATIONS BE REASONABLE
Having unrealistic expectations about writing can serve to lower your motivation if those expectations are not met.
As a newbie, don't be driven by the desire to make quick money. Focus more on honing and perfecting your writing skills and the money will come.

SET A REALISTIC TARGET FOR YOURSELF
I find that people work harder when they have deadlines or targets to meet up with. To stay motivated as a writer, you always need that little extra push that keeps you at your desk when your body feels like it needs to be drinking beer at the bar.
If possible set a daily target of, say 500 words, along with a long-term target of, say 3 books in a year. This will push you to keep writing to meet up with these targets. But in all, don't set a target for yourself that will be impossible to meet up with because that can also cause you to lose motivation.

KNOW YOUR LIMITS
As a writer, perhaps your greatest gift is a sharp, intuitive mind that continuously churns out it's ideas. Learn to ease your mind by taking it off work for a while.
To keep your mind sharp, get enough rest. Enjoy nature by going to the park or zoo. Do whatever it is you do to unwind. Sometimes, having fun has a way of triggering creative ingenuity. It's not all about work, you know.

CONNECT WITH THE SUPERNATURAL
As a writer of Christian literature, I find that connecting with God brings out the best in me. I don't mean going to church or indulging in church activities. I mean making out time to study your Bible and let God minister to you through His word.
As odd as it sounds, finding a secluded spot to study and meditate on the word of God can open you up to spheres of creativity that you never thought possible. Try it and see if it works for you.

As they say, "Different strokes for different folks." If there's something else that keeps you motivated as a writer, feel free to share it with us as a comment.

JSayin:
Please I need help.

I recently noticed that I could not purchase, download or read Kindle books and later found out that this is one dilemma of being a Nigerian living in Nigeria.

Has anyone overcome this hurdle? If yes, please let me know what to do about it.

Thanks.

You are not alone.
I'm a published author on Amazon yet unable to buy or download my own books from Amazon.
It's quite pathetic how Nigerians are treated like creatures from another planet and nothing can be done about it.
The Amazon android app doesn't work in Nigeria. It's the sad reality of What Nigerians go through.
I'm not sure this is going to change any time soon.

Interesting writeup.
Creating a fictional world is no mean feat. This is why creative writers should be celebrated.

succyblinks:
I think this post is long overdue and I’m fully prepared to counter y’all emotional reactions with pure facts.

I see lots of threads advising writers to not accept “peanuts” for their work. Some of this people go ahead to brag how they are paid 100s of thousands for their work, and unfortunately they mislead a lot of budding writers, ending their career even before they start.

Firstly, do y’all bother to ask how long those collecting that huge pay has been working for? All of this people have years and years of writing experience under their belt, so of course their work attracts better pay. And if you check well this people started off with 1naira or even less. I for one did!

I see some amateur writers who think writing articles is all about changing a few words in the post they outrightly copied from google just to beat the plagiarism checker

Lol! I really pity the impatient and greedy folks who wants to be paid 10naira per word from the start. My brother/sister, you go old!!

Everyone are being advised to seek international gigs, but are they easy to come by? Especially for people with zero experience. In fact, many of those claiming they are paid higher, do so to reduce the labor force so they can have all the rejected 1.5 gigs to themselves, lol.

I currently have one greedy folk on my hands who believes 1.3per word is too small to do a good job, lol! So how will I be encouraged to pay you 5naira per word?

Y’all don’t want to start from the grassroots and because of that, you can never succeed as a writer; at least not in Nigeria.

God forbid I pay a writer I’m unsure of their skill higher than 1.5naira, take it or leave it. Y’all want to make 1million naira per month, I would advise you to try yahuu or richtuals!

A 1.5naira gig can pay you 150k monthly if you can complete 5000words every day fr 20days. Please I ask, which job in Nigeria currently pays up to that amount for the entire month?

Y’all have been shortsighted by greed and its disgusting to say the least. Keep searching for that million-dollar job, while your mates make a sustainable income while gathering experience and making connections that inherently gets them a better pay.

I'll drop my pen here and as for you https://www.nairaland.com/hayatulimisticor
I'll be the last person you scam, I swear on that!

Interesting post indeed.
But I see a lot of people reacting emotionally and in the process, miss the important facts carefully presented here.

The way the facts are presented in this post may leave a lot to be desired but they are hard facts all the same.
If I understand the post clearly, a newbie has to learn the ropes by starting small or picking up gigs with small pay and in the process, gain enough experience that will get him gigs with higher pay. That makes sense to me.

The truth is that not everyone who claims to be a writer is good at the art. To get better, you need to hone your skills daily through the small gigs that come your way rather than get distracted by those who give you misleading information about writing.

For newbies, if anyone tells you it's impossible to write high quality content of 5000 words a day, it's a lie.
On a good day, I write more than that but it depends on certain factors such as:

- Do you have all day to write or do you have limited time each day to write? For me, the nature of my job offers me a lot of time to write.

- Are you passionate about what you write or you just write for the sake of it?
For me, I write only Christian content and it's something I'm passionate about so it follows naturally that I never run out of ideas.
Instead of stretching yourself thin by writing on several niches, why not focus your energy on one in which you never lack ideas to write about?

-Do you write and edit at the same time or do you finish your writing before editing?
I find that correcting my work as I write causes me to lose concentration. I write as fast as I can so I don't interrupt the flow of ideas and only make correction when I'm done writing.

- Do you get distracted by other activities or not. When I sit down to write, nothing takes my attention from it until I'm done.

One very important point most writers miss is that until you play in the big leagues, you can't make a living by writing.
As an aspiring or newbie writer, don't expect to make it big within a short time. Get a job that pays the bills but gives you time to write.
Write for passion and not for money untill the passion brings in the big bucks. That way, you won't be discourage if the big bucks don't come when you expect.

This is my humble submission. I hope it helps someone determine what's best for them.

Unseen:
Honestly I once thought of the idea of creating a book download site were upcoming writers can upload their works for FREE and also readers can download for FREE.

Nobody gets to make money you only gain publicity.
For me the owner, I will finance it from my pocket or maybe free will donations.
It may not be easy at the beginning but eventually, it will pay off.

BUT

I know people are only writing for profit. So I shelved the idea and decided not to waste my money on hosting and domain.

I strongly urge you not to drop that idea.
That's how pdfdrive.com operates.
It might surprise you to know that much money can be made from a site that offers free books for readers to download.
You can make much money from adverts on the site and from donations made to the site.