As seems to happen to me every time it comes round to this time of year I am struggling with motivating myself to pick up a paintbrush or organise a game. I last picked up a brush on the 18th November... I played a couple of games of IABSM in late November/early December and haven't painted or gamed since then.

Last year I went almost six months between painting things and then had an intensive period where I was painting like a man possessed

I have a WMA game lined up for tonight against a *real* opponent which I hoping will spark some enthusiasm and of course the Pendraken painting competition is just around the corner.

What do other do to keep the momentum/inspirational juices flowing?

I tend to need some extra inspiration, currently it is IABSM3 got it a few weeks ago so WWII forces are getting reinforced at the moment. A similar boost will probably come along when the revised Gotterdammerung supplement is released. I also have to have a target of some sort such as rounding out forces for a particular scenario.
Rewarding yourself for getting stuff completed is an idea too, I often decide that I can get no more lead until xyz is finished (but never stick to it) I find that my projects have to be small, manageable and varied. It helps to have a couple of projects on the go at once so I can switch if one gets a bit of a toil.

I have no problem with the inspiration etc, my problem is finding the time to paint or play games. If I'm too tired to paint I may do something else wargames related. A deadline such as a forthcoming game tends to spur me on to finish painting a unit, scenery etc.

Mine is usually - I want to do this project, I have been there, or Help I'm playing game X and I need my own troops!
But then you've seen the size of my FPW collection, and I have to admit I'm a completeist, did the same for POW Napoleonic Prussians 1806 and Anglo-Dutch 1815! Only 3 more Corps of French and 7 of Prussians to do for 1870 then...

I usually try and read a couple of books relating to the project/period I'm doing - I recently managed to finish a 28mm CoE Roman army, which is probably the first army I've finished in about 20 years!

My problem is not usually one of motivation, it's more that I get distracted by something shinier, so for the period when I was painting my Romans I made sure I only read books on the Roman army. There was a slight distraction into 20mm moderns after watching Blackhawk Down, but I managed to get over that 

Reading "Redcoats and Rebels" got me into 10mm AWI and am managing to build up a small library of AWI books to see my through the painting, although I did make the mistake of watching Last of the Mohicans thinking it would strengthen my resolve to paint my troops, but it's just got me wanting to buy some FIW! Must...not...give...in...

I make it a rule that I have to do a bit every day, come fire, famine, or flood. It adds up as time goes by.

Forgot to mention that like Fiercekitty, I try to paint for around an hour 4-5 days a week. It's suprising how quickly it all adds up.

Very true I've tried that rule even if it's just a case of priming a single tank get something done.
think I might have to re-intoduce that one with immediate effect.

Playing games helps me actually complete units.

There are plenty of things that make me start armies or projects. But actually getting the army on the table really pushes things along.

We recently did a big game for one of our group's 40th and that generated lots of painting activity.

I find the summer months less successful on the painting front as I desperately want to enjoy the long summer evenings. Autumn and Winter are very much my painting seasons, with at least some gaming taking place in Spring and Summer.

I seem to find that I *think* about gaming (and associated history etc) way more than I actually do anything...although I do read voraciously - and will often have 4+ books on-the-go (usually cross-period); I'll also tend to dive online first with available downtime...which  can inspire me, but doesn't actually help with getting anything done.

Oh - and then, once I get 'there', I really am like a man possessed. Full-throttle, full-frontal, unadulterated assembling, priming, painting, gaming shenanigans. Redux. I might just be a bit like the ocean tides like that 

You may have noticed. 

I have just recieved my pendraken package my late christmas present from my good lady wife, I really want to paint stuff up, but just cant seem to achieve it. the little one is giving us 4 hours sleep on a good night and 2 on a bad night. So my sleep deprivation is beginning to tell. I have the motivation to want to paint stuff but just am too b*ggered to get anything done...well not exactly true, i glued the club into the giants hand and took off all the flash and taken stuff out of packages and gone ooooh and ahhhh and planned colours etc, but just no actual painting as yet

I tend to lose motivation toward the end of a project. I usually complete a project to the minimum point where I can play a game but still have a significant number of figures left over which I could use to expand my forces. I can't seem to get those last few units painted. I usually go through a two or three month period after running a game at a convention where I have no motivation at all. I think a big part of it is that I rarely actually play a game. Instead, I usually GM games at conventions.
I find my motivation to paint when I finally decide to start a new project or some new rules set comes along and I break out the old figures and start painting again. 

Quote from: Shecky on 14 January 2012, 02:40:31 AM
I tend to lose motivation toward the end of a project. I usually complete a project to the minimum point where I can play a game but still have a significant number of figures left over which I could use to expand my forces. I can't seem to get those last few units painted. I find my motivation to paint when I finally decide to start a new project or some new rules set comes along and I break out the old figures and start painting again. 

I suffer from exactly the same affliction Too many projects on the go at once, too little 'attention span' to see each one through, and a distinct lack of patience to paint everything I bought for a project BEFORE bunging dice at stuff once there's enough done to get a decent game out of my new toys!

By the way had a stonking game last night, got home, popped a tinny, flicked onto the Lakeside highlights and failed miserably to pick out a unit to paint whilst watching...!

I think the shiny lead syndrome affects us all. Nice to know that a lot of us seem to suffer from never being able to quite finish a project off before getting distracted by another one .