HEALING WRITER BURNOUT: PART 1
Writer burnout is a cousin to writer’s block, with a few key differences. Both states leave you feeling like you should write, you need to write, but you just can’t. Writer’s block is slightly easier to tackle. There are detours—ways to reset your brain—so you can get back on track. But burnout? It’s a deeper kind of writing exhaustion. Maybe you consistently have to write on deadline or with a due date nipping at your heels. Maybe you’ve been struggling with the same block for months. Or maybe you’ve been working on the same manuscript for years, and feel like you just can’t look at it anymore. Over the course of this two-part series, I’ll share five tips that’ll help you recover from writer burnout.
Writer burnout is the literal worst! But you can get through it, I promise.
UNPLUG FROM YOUR PROJECT
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes … including you.” —Anne Lamott
First thing’s first. Take a moment to analyze how you’re feeling about your project. If you’re experiencing a mild case of writer’s block, I’d encourage you to try and push through it. Sometimes it’s necessary to bear with the discomfort until you hit a breakthrough (more on this in the next post). Check out Jen Petro Roy’s post on writer’s block for tips on pushing through.
However, if you’re reading this blog post, you might be at the point of extreme frustration—the words on the page aren’t making sense anymore, you’re cranky, and you’re crying a little bit (or a lot).
For folks experiencing this kind of stress, the best thing you can do for yourself and your project is to unplug. This may seem like obvious advice, but when your writing project has you in a state of turmoil, it can be hard to see anything clearly—including the fact that stopping is, in fact, an option.
If you’re writing on deadline, you may not have the option to step away for very long—but you can probably set it aside until tomorrow. Give yourself the opportunity to binge watch some TV, eat some nourishing food, hydrate, and get a good night’s rest. Things will look less dire in the morning, I can almost guarantee it.
If you’re not writing on deadline, give yourself permission to step away from your project for a period of time, whether that’s a week, a month, or longer. I did this recently with my WIP during a course of intensive revision. I got to a point where I just felt kind of lost, so I put it aside for a good three months. Now I feel re-energized about my story and have new ideas that got me un-stuck.
STICK TO A DAILY WRITING ROUTINE
“Nature never hurries. Atom by atom, little by little she achieves her work.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Once you get unstuck from the worst of it, try to develop a routine that helps you avoid writer burnout in the first place. Commit to doing a little bit every day rather than leaving it all till the night before your deadline. I’ve found that aiming to write for an hour every day is what works for me. I’m a night owl, so the hours between nine and midnight seem to be most productive for me, writing-wise. Play around with your schedule and see what works for you.
From my experience, you need two ingredients to create a successful writing routine. First, you need to write even when you don’t feel like it. Take me, for example! I did not feel like sitting down to write this evening. But once I got my butt in the chair, I was able to get into a groove. And the fact that I’m chipping away at this blog post means I won’t be struggling to finish it on Sunday night. Writer burnout avoided!
The second ingredient? Be kind to yourself if you do miss a day. We’re human beings, not writing robots—so go easy on yourself if you need to take care of what life throws at you. And even if life hasn’t thrown you a curveball, sometimes you just need time to binge watch Netflix. Recharge your batteries and then get back into your writing routine when you’re able to.
If you need more guidance, GSC editor Rhiannon Richardson wrote an excellent article on developing a daily writing practice.
ALLOW YOUR “BACK BRAIN” TO DO ITS THING
“So much in writing depends on the superficiality of one's days. One may be preoccupied with shopping and income tax returns and chance conversations, but the stream of the unconscious continues to flow undisturbed, solving problems, planning ahead: one sits down sterile and dispirited at the desk, and suddenly the words come as though from the air: the situations that seemed blocked in a hopeless impasse move forward: the work has been done while one slept or shopped or talked with friends.” ― Graham Greene, The End of the Affair
Another strategy for mitigating writer burnout is intentionally giving your back brain space to do its work. I think of my back brain as the less restrained part of my consciousness, where ideas flow more freely. I find I’m able to access this part of my brain when:
I’m falling asleep (seriously, I’ve had some of my best writing ideas when I’m on the edge of consciousness);
I’m doing something repetitive like walking or knitting;
I’m absorbed in another mindless task that allows my brain the opportunity to wander—like doing dishes or tidying up around the house.
Here’s the real trick though: when you’re engaged in one of these mindless or repetitive activities, resist the urge to put on a TV show or podcast. Embrace the silence and the opportunity to be alone with your thoughts. Then tune into your story world—specifically any areas where you might feel stuck. Give your brain free reign—without distractions—to work through the possibilities. The next time you sit down at the keyboard, you’ll have a roadmap for where to go next.
IN THE NEXT BLOG POST…
We’ll look at what really causes writer burnout, and two more tips to help you recover.
See you next month!