1. force or speed of movement; impetus, as
of a physical object or course of events:
When we think of writing, we think of characters, plot, climax, and cliff-hangers. We think of world building. We think of editing and beta readers. We might even think of age group, genre, and publishing.
Momentum is a word most often used in physics.
Newton's first law of motion is that "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." Most people stop after the second "stays in motion" part, and for this post I am going to do the same.
An object in motion stays in motion.
It's a natural law. It's natural for something in motion to stay in motion--and since "natural" is a current buzzword, this must mean it's good!
I typically avoid all things physics. Physics has an unfortunate friendship with math, and I don't like hanging out with bad crowds. But this is one thing that I can get behind.
Because building up momentum is a good thing.
Think back to the last time you were writing and you reached that perfect place where inspiration and creativity meet work and you can hardly get the words out fast enough. And it stays like that for a long time.
You built momentum.
It's like when you are on a run and you hit that sweet spot where it feels like you can run for hours. You're not fighting the exercise, and that helps you build momentum.
My Kickstarter campaign is now 37% funded after only a week. It has momentum.
The more you write, the more you write; the more you run, the more you run. (And apparently, the more people donate, the more other people donate.)