How do you stay motivated?
APRIL NEWSLETTER | Writing prompts, tips & the importance of celebrating our joy
Dear friend,
welcome to my monthly newsletter, now on Substack! There is much to explore here, my ADHD brain is both aroused and overwhelmed, but most of all, I’m super excited to switch to a new platform on the 7th birthday of this newsletter!
If you’re new here, you’ll find the monthly writing prompts below, along with a new Q&A section where I answer YOUR writing questions. This month’s question is: How do you stay motivated? Especially in a moonboot? Find my best tips below.
But first, let’s go back to this incredible fact: it’s seven years next month since I started writing this newsletter to total strangers from my living room in Hoi An. Today, I am no longer writing to strangers. The pandemic bonded us as a community of like-minded souls who find comfort and connection in words and creative expression. And I am no longer writing from Vietnam, or Mission Beach (where I spent the last four years), but from glorious Sydney where I’m house sitting for two weeks.
I’m finally out of my moonboot and I’m treating myself to a combined solo retreat and working-holiday, though so far I’ve focused mostly on the solo holiday part. Even the work part, cycling to bookshops all over town and to ABC radio to pre-record an interview for Life Matters, felt like a holiday during this glorious autumn weather.
Celebrating our joy (and honoring our sadness)
After eight weeks of no weight-bearing on my right foot, Sydney’s hills have helped bring the muscles back easily and I’m feeling great. So please forgive me for posting selfies, but I am doing what my friends tell me to do. I am celebrating the moment. I’ve worked hard and now I am taking a pause to live my joy and to honor myself for never loosing sight of my dream: to publish a book that you can buy at an airport bookstore. Naturally, the first thing I did was visit every bookstore at the arrivals terminal. Seeing my book at Sydney airport really was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. I wanted to scream and jump up and down, but I was still in my moonboot, so I grinned idiotically into my phone instead. I’ve been smiling ever since I left the airport.
In my memoir I write about the importance of allowing the sadness of grief. The same is true for joy. But often it feels self indulgent to celebrate ourselves. So here’s your reminder (and mine) to relax into the moment and into the momentum of the journey, pause and celebrate yourself and your milestones, honoring that you’ve worked hard and stayed true to our goals.
So far my celebrations have included expensive, calorie-rich artisan icecreams, swims at icy cold ocean pools, epsom baths, binge watching Lessons in Chemistry (and marveling at the difference between book and TV show), scribbling in my journal, lunch with a view for one, an afternoon on a friend’s boat, lots of cycling, and a lot of quiet time. That’s my idea of a party. An extrovert could certainly find better ways to party here in Bondi, Sydney’s buzzing beachside party town.
Tragically, two weeks ago a long shadow was cast over Bondi, when six innocent people, five women and one male security guard, where stabbed to death by a lone male attacker. The busy shopping centre at Bondi Junction remained closed for days, the mall filled with flowers and a dusk vigil was held last Sunday bringing together the community in grief and mourning.
Last Thursday, on ANZAC Day, a national day of remembrance to commemorate those who served and died in war and to mark the day in 1915 when the ANZAC corps landed at Gallipoli Turkey in WWI, I attended my first ever dawn service here at Bondi Beach.
I’ve always had mixed feelings about this day, but I am glad to have attended yesterday joining hundreds of young people gathered on the shore and in the water, forming a large circle in kayaks and on surf boards, to farewell the victims of the recent Bondi massacre.
It occurred to me that remembrance is the flipside of celebration. So let’s use that idea for our monthly writing prompts.
If you have been struggling to get into writing, you’re not alone. Now that my book is out in the wild, I’ve found it hard to get back into writing and I’ve gone back to basics (more on that below in the Q&A section): journal, timer and brief pre-writing meditation to find focus and flow.
Here’s a singing bowl meditation you can use to find your focus.
Setting a timer is a great idea as it helps to silence the inner editor. Seven minutes is a good time. Just write without stopping to edit or think, capturing first thoughts (Natalie Goldberg has pioneered this method).
Let’s start with this simple yet effective prompt: I remember…
Write the words on a fresh page and keep writing until the timer rings. If you get stuck, write the words on a fresh line and dig up new memories. Do this as many times as needed. Be surprised by what comes up.
What we do in life echoes in Eternity.
The other day after recording my interview for ABC radio, I cycled into the city and visited The Art of Banksy ‘ Without Limits’ exhibition. I kept coming back to the above piece because it resonates in the aftermath of the Bondi massacre, which has cast a deeply unsettling echo into eternity, affecting not only the families of the bereaved but an entire community.
But I kept coming back to this also because it’s the perfect answer to one of the questions I was asked during the interview, a question I get asked often. Why did you stay with Gianni, when you knew he was a cheater? Because I didn’t want to be the woman who leaves a dying man; because compassion is an antidote to bitterness and resentment; and because I wanted to be able to live with the echo my actions would create.
Set your timer for 10 minutes and explore what echoes you are creating for eternity through your actions today. This is also be a good Mother’s Day prompt, because that’s where the hard work really begins, by raising kids that will create echoes in spirit with our own values. Not having had children of my own, I applaud all parents for the hard work that goes into raising decent human beings that cast positive echoes into eternity.
3. Bonus prompt: write about how you celebrate yourself. Or maybe you haven’t done enough of that? Then write about why you don’t celebrate yourself enough and how you can change that!
How do you stay motivated, especially with a broken foot?
Staying motivated was easy during the month following the release of my book. There was so much to be excited about and so much going on (I’ve included a little media round-up below).
But once I found myself back in my remote small town in tropical Far North Queensland, staying motivated felt impossible. Unable to go on my little booktour in Sydney and Melbourne, unable even to drive to my local cafe because of my moonboot, unable to ride my bike or go for a walk, sweating like crazy in that tight boot during a particularly hot tropical summer without a/c — all I wanted to do was curl up on my bed, in my darkened room and sleep it off.
But I don’t want Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband to be the only book of mine you can buy at an airport bookstore, so here’s what I did to stay motivated:
I went back to basics and resumed Morning Pages — writing three pages by hand first thing in the morning, capturing first thoughts. Something always happens in those three pages — the spark of an idea, a turn of phrase, or simply a reminder why I love to express myself in writing. Nothing earth-shattering happens, but writing those three pages is always a starting point and it’s also a good routine to keep the writing muscle flexed.
When I’m finding my way into a new story, I like to write by hand. Often I’ll do a mindmap to brainstorm the ideas I want to tackle, to remind myself what I’m really passionate about, and the kinds of characters or plot twists I like to explore. I’ve found that writing by hand keeps the inner editor on silent mode. It thinks I’m just doodling, playing on the page, not doing any serious writing...and yet, that’s often when the magic happens.
I often use the Pomodoro technique of working in 20 minute bursts. It’s another way of keeping the inner editor on silent mode. Writing fast, without thinking, without editing, knowing that I have 20 minutes to get something down on the page is strangely liberating.
I remind myself daily that it’s not what I write but how much (and how often) I write because a messy page or two or three, gives me something to work with. And it’s more satisfying to have three messy pages than nothing or a paragraph that I’ve polished to death.
When nothing works, I read. To write a book, you need to read and read some more; read widely and read like a writer. Podcasts are also excellent for learning how published writers go about their work. But don’t fall into the trap of researching endlessly, don’t go down the rabbithole of the internet. Keep writing and believe in yourself!
Having a routine has been crucial for me, especially during the pandemic, when I wrote my book. I like my morning routine. The important thing is knowing what works for you and then sticking with it. Writing is a job like any other and sitting down to work every day at a similar time even on the days when you don’t feel inspired, helps to create rhythm. If that doesn’t work, find other ways to create a routine: write the same amount of words every day; write for the same amount of time every day, no matter what, even if it’s 30 minutes a day.
It’ll also make you realise that writer’s block is a form of procrastination. In the end it’s all about putting down words, whether you feel like it or not!
Help me celebrate the 7th Birthday of my FREE newsletter
If you want to help me celebrate the 7th birthday of my free newsletter and 2 month since the release of my book, consider buying a copy of my Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband, for yourself, for a friend or for your mother (it’s in included in this weekend’s Good Weekend Mother’s Day reading list!).
If you’ve read and like my book, another way to help me celebrate, is by leaving a review on Goodreads or Amazon. I never knew how important reviews are, but they make a huge difference to book sales and to the visibility of a book. It doesn't have to be polished or very long. Thank you so much in advance.
And please reach out if you’d like to invite me along to your bookclub! I’d love to chat about Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband with you and your friends.
Send me your questions and feedback
I am still figuring out the best way to send this newsletter and I always appreciate your feedback. Please let me know if you prefer a long newsletter like this one once a month or two shorter newsletters across one month?
We’re all busy and I’m grateful to be allowed into your inbox, so please do let me know your preference. And please send me your questions (and suggestions) so that I have something to talk about in my next newsletter. Just hit reply on this email or use the comment function.
Here’s a little media round-up:
Feature article (written by me) in the April edition the Australian Women’s Weekly
4-page interview in the Weekend Australian Magazine with Caroline Overington
Feature in Primer (a FREE online magazine).
That’s it for another month. I’m off to Melbourne next week, then on to Byron Bay, back to Sydney for the Writers Festival and then to Brisbane where I’ll be speaking on a panel at the Brisbane Writers Festival (May 31st, 7pm), chaired by the lovely Edwina. If you’re close by, please join us! More info & tickets here. And if you’re in Sydney, come and see me do stand-up (just kidding, I’ll be giving a 10-minute talk alongside at least one stand-up comedian, and I am totally unprepared, so I figure, it’ll be like doing stand-up) at the Storeyroom, Buketty’s Brewery in Brookvale (Tuesday May 7 at 7pm), tickets here.
Hope you’re having a relaxing weekend.
Thank you for being on the journey with me. It means so much!
With many blessings,
PS: you can follow my journey on Instagram @kerstinpilz.author.
I’m considering an additional retreat in October/early November in Far North Queensland, Australia this year if there is enough interest. If you’re interested, please hit reply
Edwina and I will get together in late June/early July for a working holiday in Indonesia ahead of our Bali retreat to prepare the 2025 retreat list so that you can start signing up for Heavenly Hoi An (February 10 - 17, 2025), Blissful Bali (June 23 - 29, 2025) and Incredible Italy (10-17 October, 2025).
In the meantime, please hit reply on this email if you want me to put you on the waitlist (please provide name, email address and retreat location). Hope to meet you on retreat next year!
