Film Courage: How do you motivate yourself to write every day? Travis Seppala, Author/Screenwriter: So this is a discussion I've
had with other writers because I'm very prolific and that I write like I said
lots of material a year and I write every day if I can help it um
occasionally I can't because they've got like too many chores and errands I have
to run where I can find time to sit there but I'm of the belief that if you
if you want to be a writer you need to actually be writing so I don't need
motivation I just need to get my butt in the seat and do the work might not
always be fantastic stuff than pumping out if you know if I'm saying there just
to write just to get the pages out but the act of writing is something you need
to do every single day or as frequently as you can in order to keep doing it
because if you write just when you're motivated to write like if you're not
motivated for it for like months at a time you're not gonna get any material
written and if you especially just I want to do TV writing like you can't
just be like oh sorry boss I don't I don't feel like writing my episode today
I'll get it to you next week if I feel like it it doesn't fly so you kinda have
to motivate it or not you can't just wait for the muse to hit you have to you
know force the muse sometimes and and tell her okay get your wings in here
because I'm writing now it's time yeah so yeah I don't really go with needing
to motivate it's just I'm I have to write I'm writing it's something I have
to do it's not something I always want to do because sometimes you're like oh I
would much rather go to the beach today and then be sitting at my computer
screen but you're not gonna get stuff done that way so I I don't need the
motivation to write I just I am the motivation I write a little writing
machine basically it's a stick me for my computer pages are gonna get pumped out
one interesting thing about like having a day job is I found that then I always
want to be doing something else but then once you have that free time I don't
know if it's fear or what it is then all of a sudden it's like and then you find
all these excuses if you ever fall prey to that oh absolutely because I do have
a day job unfortunately this so luckily my day job I have plenty of downtime
at the day job where I can do some writing you know there I can't be in
final draft at the work computer but I can be you know like outlining in a
notebook or something like that you know at least get some ideas down to to fix
issues I may have in the script at home but then yeah like I I am NOT good at
staying awake late like at all midnight I'm out so I get home from my day job at
like 10:30 at night I have enough time to walk the dog with my fiancee and then
watch maybe an episode of TV and then I'm gone so I do my writing in the
morning when I wake up I'm up you know between 8:00 and 8:30 every morning pump
out between two to four hours worth of writing before I go to work every day so
and then on my days off I used to write a ton but I was getting super stressed
apparently and so my fiancee put a stop that she's like no days off you're not
writing sorry if you need to for a like a deadline or something like that you
know I just had to do a rewrite on a script feature of mine that's gonna be
getting filmed in a couple months and so they had their their notes for the final
rewrite and like okay we need to have this by this day so we can get it to our
actors and stuff so I got the write on those days it's more of like one of
those I get to kind of scenarios I feel very bad if I went a whole day and
didn't write anything so because I just feel like I should be writing you know
it's to the point now where once you do something it becomes habit you know what
is it like if you do something it for 30 days it becomes a habit for you and
you'll keep doing it so writing every day I at this point it's it's not a oh I
feel like writing today it's I have to write I can't do anything else until I
get my pages done so do you have this ritual in the morning where you like get
your coffee ready I don't drink coffee no I
I was force-fed coffee as a child because it does the same thing that as
Ritalin in high school because every difference in metabolism versus adults
so you know the in children they burn through the caffeine much faster it has
like a ritalin type effect where it kind of calms them down and Ritalin when I
was a kid like gave me really bad stomach cramps and so the doctor was
like oh give him a cup of coffee every morning I'll do the same thing so yeah
so I had to drink coffee every morning before school from the age of six to the
age of 16 and I won't drink it now my fiance loves
coffee and I think it's gross I okay I won't put it in my mouth
it's an expensive habit if you hit that one with Starbucks you know where you're
dropping like four or five bucks on a copper plate you know but yeah so I I
don't really do that but I definitely I wake up if sometimes I'll go work out
like I'm trying to do like the new year's resolution thing of hitting the
treadmill a couple times a week sometimes I do it as many times as I
need to but not usually oh so you know hit the treadmill if I'm able to if I
have the energy to do it otherwise hit the computer I had a really bad habit
checking my email first so I know I've heard many people say don't do that like
you know once like Stephen King says don't check an email until you've
already done your morning writing and then checking email later on in the day
I can't do that I have to I've got too many things coming in from producers
newsletters of where I like I want to read these articles and stuff you know
so I'll I'll set aside the articles but at least got to go through also very
organized in my email most people you know they'll have like their junk mail
just sitting there forever it have like ten you look on their phone they've got
10,000 emails that are on red yeah I go through meticulously and I even have
folders for every topic so I will like moved it so if it's a you know if it's a
on a certain movie that like I'm talking back before like right now I'm working
on a web series and so like if I get an email from the producer for the web
series it goes to his folder and if I get something that is from my fiancee
about our wedding plans I'll move that to our wedding folder and I'll you know
so I only ever have in my inbox like at most like 10 or 12 emails because I read
things then file it away to where it goes and and delete all my junk mail
before I read anything I need to read so that takes probably way too much time to
do all that and then I start writing once I've done all my email and I and
checking like the social media briefly and writing probably start so I wake up
at 8:00 probably start writing 9:00 9:30 depending on how much junk mail there is
a sift through and then I'll write until about like
10:30 or 11:00 when we gotta walk the dog don't make breakfast for my my
fiancee and then usually have a working breakfast eating there while I'm still
typing away pages till about like 11 maybe 12 and then take a shower so I
couldn't ready for my day job and then out the door by one so yeah so writing
for like I said between two to four hours a day every day before going to
work what's Stephen King's logic for not checking emails before we then it's just
a time waste and and it's something that you can get carried away with as i just
proved that's it they're moving everything around and it can get to the
point where you know i all of a sudden i've week i've been sitting there for an
hour and a half and I haven't done anything that's not email yet you know
and you know the writing needs to come first so I know that's what I should be
doing I just can't seem to peel myself away from my email and to save it for
later I feel like I have to know all the things they're going supposed to agree
with they said they'd the web series I'm working on like the producer is in in
Barcelona you know so I'm different sigh like he sends me stuff I'm already
asleep when he sends me stuff so now I'm getting and have to respond and stuff
like that so yeah i think i think that's the logic of don't check an email to
later like get your pages done first at least some of your if you're gonna like
let's see you have the goal of writing i'm k I'm gonna write 10 pages today
okay write your first five pages then we need a break
check your email and something make sure you come back to it you know so or save
it towards later today because I could potentially just you know check all my
email at work at my day job you know but I just I don't know I think certain
people have things about they need the house in somewhat yeah or there's like
different things everyone has some kind of presentation tool for sure you know
like a four order though I think people need order sometimes don't think mmm-hmm
maybe I don't know I I know writers who you know they they won't start writing
until their desk is exactly the way it needs to be for the day and that could
take them awhile cleaning stuff off put in their coffee just so you know making
sure the lights coming through a certain angle and stuff like know just right
if you're gonna write cert writing so I don't know I need I should change my
email to later on but as of right now it's my fascination tool I wake up I
check my email data right so
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