Guest post: Keris Stainton

Today, as promised, I'm delighted to welcome Keris Stainton as part of the blog tour celebrating the launch of her first YA novel, Della says:OMG!

Over to Keris:

When Cathy asked me to write about motivation, I happily agreed. And then I started to think. What *is* my motivation? What motivates me? It's not something I've ever really thought about, to be honest. I'm not even 100% convinced what it means, but I was told at university not to start an essay with a dictionary definition (after I'd started an essay with a dictionary definition...) so I'll resist looking it up.

Instead I'm going to look at it like this: what makes me write? What gets me to the computer, opens the document, finds me trying to create characters and put together a plot?

Well good writing does. Reading someone else's good writing, I mean. When I read something like Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries or Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall or Marian Keyes' The Brightest Star in the Sky it makes me want to write. I know I can't write as well as any of those three authors (yet), but reading their books makes me want to try.

Another thing that makes me want to write is New York. I don't know where it comes from, but I love the place, always have. When I'm there I feel inspired, I feel like anything is possible. I want to write when I'm there and I want to write even when I just think about being there. If I, say, wander around Greenwich Village on Google Streetview, I want to write. So I try to do it just enough to inspire me and not so much that I lose a whole day.

I also find I'm inspired, more and more, by interiors. I don't know if this is a sign of age or of being settled with a husband and children, but Living, etc., magazine is like you-know-what to me. I'm inspired by other people's creativity, but it also makes me want to improve my home, to find or create my dream home. Which leads to...

Money. Yes, I'm motivated by money. I'm not making a lot, but I hope - and intend - to one day. And since I feel like writing is what I'm supposed to be doing in life, I have to assume that writing is where the money's going to come from.

But my main motivation is love. Love of books. Love of reading. Love of writing. Love of that moment when I forget I'm writing and it feels like the story's writing itself. Love of the times when I read my writing back and I think, "Bloody hell. This is pretty good!" But also love for my family. Wanting to support them and provide for them, yes, but also to inspire them. My motivation for giving up work to write was that I didn't want my son to have a mother who was to afraid to follow her dreams. And that motivates me to keep following them.

Thanks Keris! You can find details of all the stops on Keris' blog tour here.