Writer Wednesday: Motivation or Inspiration?

Hi everyone! It's the second week of 2012. We're all still excited about the fresh new year, right? That leads me into my Writer Wednesday topic this week.

Motivation or Inspiration...

Some writers only write when the mood hits them, while others put themselves in their chair and write no matter what. Sure, I've been guilty of writing when the mood hits before, but it's important to work consistently on your work-in-process.

I've learned a few things about that:

1. It's harder to keep track of what has gone on in the story if you're not working on it every day. Chances are you'll have to do that much more revision, unless you've got it all plotted perfectly.
   
2. It puts distance between you and the story, causing the story to go cold.  You begin not to have the passion for it, then as each day goes by excuses not to work on it start. After a while, you sit back down to find out that you're not as enthusiastic about the characters and scrap it to write a different story. (Yes, I'm speaking from experience on this one.)
   
3. You're not producing work consistently. If you're contracted on a story, then producing new words is super important to fulfilling your contract (or getting the contract in the first place).
   
4. Writers write. If you want to be a writer, shouldn't you enjoy writing?

So, how do you make it through the days when the muse is off somewhere else?