There are lots of quotes and images out there saying exactly this. Don't wait until you are in the mood to write. Write anyway.
It is only recently that I have begun to properly understand the importance of this.
I have been writing for two years. Yes, there may be a day, or even a week, here and there when I can't really be bothered to sit down and work on my novel. But that day or week passes, and I'm right back to being in the mood to write. I find writing extremely fulfilling, and even when I hit a point where I struggle to figure out what needs to happen next (and that's usually due to the last bit I've written being wrong and needing to be fixed), I am still typically filled with the desire to write. I may struggle for a few days to figure out where my writing went wrong so I can make it right and continue on my merry way, but it doesn't last for long. The book is always there, in the back of my mind, churning and changing without my having to pay it that much attention.
Yet with this pregnancy, it hasn't been working like that. I don't know if it's pregnancy brain (I have noticed I am often incapable of thinking about two things at once, so if my mind wanders while I'm having a conversation, I have absolutely no idea what the other person is talking about. Which is not normal for me. And if you've ever sat down and had a conversation with me, you will notice it going off in a dozen directions. Which is what typically happens silently in my head while I listen to someone, only normally, I'm still paying attention to what the other person is saying. That's just not functioning for me right now) or the general exhaustion of sleeping badly while simultaneously growing a person. But, for whatever reason, that constant behind the scenes writing that usually happens throughout the day is just not happening.
So that day or week of not feeling in the mood to write stretches on to weeks and months. Maybe I sit down to write once a week, but it's not the usual, proper writing. I'm not spending the time, even when I sit down, that I usually do.
This last week, I have been trying to write anyway. To come downstairs with more than half an hour to spare, sit down at my desk, pull up my novel, and write. Regardless of whether I feel like doing it.
And it is hard! It is hard to turn off Netflix or put down the book I'm reading, to devote a solid chunk of time out of my day to write when I'm not really feeling like it.
But it is worth it.
My long-term goal is to sit down and write five days a week, but I acknowledge that right now, with the pregnancy kicking my butt like it is, that's just not doable. So my current goal is to sit down and write, properly write for at least an hour at a time, three days a week.
The first time I sat down without feeling remotely in the mood to write, it was a struggle from start to finish. The words dragged their feet as I sent them out onto the page, and there wasn't that wonderful flow that typically happens when I'm writing.
Last time, however, it clicked. It started out as difficult as ever, but partway through, the flood occurred. It was easy, it was fun, it was what I am used to writing being.
And since then, there are times when I notice the book figuring itself out in my mind. I wrote out an outline about a month ago, and it also seemed forced. But a couple of days ago, the scenes suddenly came to me that made it smoother. That slipped perfectly into my plan for the book and made it work. The only writing I did yesterday was to write down those bits and pieces and add them to the outline so I don't forget them before I reach that point.
I don't know if that churning away in the back of my mind will stop again. I still have six weeks until the baby comes. This may just be a brief reprieve. And who knows how my mind will function with a newborn waking me up at night?
But sitting down and writing, even when you desperately don't want to, is what I need to do. Working on this book is important to me. So, even if I don't feel remotely like sitting down and working on it, I will still force those words out and wait for the floodgates to open once more.
