Overcoming Writer’s Burnout :\

[Alexa Autorski]

*rubs hands together* Yup, I’m sure there’s been a topic about this already, but I’m starting a new one because I am totally too lazy to search wanted to ask… how do y’all get over writer’s burnout? *dun dun dun* So after finishing my novel, Last of Her Kind, the author side of me has been feeling super bummed about what I write and I’ve just been plain ol’ exhausted. I have the urge to write because I’m falling in love with this new novel idea, but it’s like I’m stuck and “burned out” as well. Does that make sense? :\ I’ve heard lots of advice on this subject and didn’t know which to believe. I want to write, but I don’t know if I should step away entirely, write smaller things like short stories or poetry, or just push through it.

Anyways, ignore my ramblings, but if y’all have any advice or are experiencing this yourself, I’d appreciate to hear your thoughts! How do you fall back in love with writing again when you just feel blegh? (Yes, that’s a word.) I’ve heard it said you should just keep pushing through, but I don’t know. Should I start a new novel? Start working on my next draft? Start the second book of my series? Sorry about the questions. I think I’m rambling now…

(Also, feel free to share y’all’s own experiences with writer’s burnout as well! Every authoress could use the help.)

@lewilliams @devastate-lasting @hallie-jean @abigail-m @gracie-j @joy-caroline @scripter-of-kingdoms @mkfairygirl @issawriter7 @daisy-torres @seek-justice @kathleenramm @why-am-i-forgetting-everyone @godlyfantasy12 @nova21 @jenna-terese @every-author-ever

[ella]

@writerlexi1216

This is ALL too relatable, Lexi!  The way I usually (try) to overcome writer’s block/burnout is picking up a different project.  I have *counts Scrivener docs* 25 WIPs from the last 2 yrs.  Not that they’re perfect.  (Or finished.)

This way really helps me to take a step back and pick a project that I’ve been developing previously.  There are all kinds of genres: contemporary, thriller/suspense, dystopian, mystery.  Whatever I’m in the mood to write, I write it.  It’s basically the “circle of life” for me. XD  Plan, write, step away, plan new WIP, write, etc.  That doesn’t mean I’m dumping any ideas.  It just helps me to take a brain break and pick up another WIP.

But that not might work for other people.  It’s just the way I do things. *shrugs*

I HOPE this helps!!  <33 #thestruggleisreal 😉

what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000

[Linyang Zhang]

@writerlexi1216 Ah, yes, the first time I won NaNoWriMo I didn’t write another word for 4 months. Not worth it lol. But since then I’ve built up my writing muscles.

For me I just keep floundering around in water like I’m about to drown. I tell myself I’m gonna keep writing, but in reality it’s so painful I can only get out 100 words a day. But that’s okay. I think it’s dangerous when you start making excuses for yourself not to write, such as, “I just wrote so much, I deserve a break”, etc. Keep trying, keep pushing yourself, eventually you’ll climb out. But don’t push yourself too much. Try to write a teeny-tiny bit every day, and that’s enough.

Also, starting new projects. Starting something new is always helpful.

Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days

[Daisy Torres]

@writerlexi1216 Aww sorry you’re burned out!!

So personally, I have a few hobbies that I like to keep up with. If I burn out on one, I focus on bettering another until I feel ready to work on the first one again. Just make sure you do something so your creative inkwell doesn’t run dry, catch my quill?

Sometimes if I burn out, I listen to writing channels on youtube that help me be better when I finally do jump back into my writing. OR (my personal fav tip) I switch my writing routine. So if I write at night, I’ll write in the morning. If I write in the morning, then maybe the afternoon. Whatever works.

Hope this helps!!

"It's easy to be caught up in stardust and whispers when reality is so dark and loud."

[Elizabeth]

@writerlexi1216 Ah, writer’s burnout… It’s such fun, isn’t it? :)))

As for my experiences with the subject: I went through a ~3-year period where I barely wrote at all, and am actually currently in the midst of somewhat of a dry spell. As such, a  lot of what I’m about to say is advice that was given to me (much of which was said by your brother, so you know :P)

So, with that in mind, my advice to you, in no particular order, is as follows:

1). It’s okay to take a break.

Seriously. It’s okay to step back and to not be creative at all for a while. Most of the following advice is geared around this assumption–you might not need or want to take a break, but it’s more than okay either way. <3

2) See if you can identify why you’re feeling burned out. (Way easier said than done, I know.) Are you just exhausted from the creative marathon that is NaNo? If so, take time to let your writing muscles heal up –athletes do it all the time, so why shouldn’t writers? 😛 Do you feel like your writing just isn’t “good enough” and that stress is holding you back? (Your writing definitely is good enough, but I also get how that can be a battle.) For me, a lot of my burnout had to do with “life things.” My 3-years-of-mostly-not-writing was largely due to said life things making me feel paralyzed and trapped in a cycle of perfectionism. My current “dry spell” is due to…well, some of those same life things, except instead of funneling those emotions into writing, I’m actually taking the time to examine and deal with them instead. That’s about as fun as it sounds, but it’s actually a very good thing. A little bit like pulling teeth, but still good. <3 Anyway, I say all that to say that sometimes real life is enough to handle without trying to pressure yourself to be creative.

3) Consuming art is just as valid as making art

Your creativity can be kind of like a well, or a pool, or a glass of lemonade. You gotta refill it every so often, you know? This is kind of similar to trying out a new kind of art form or style writing, but even more so. Immerse yourself in the stories/books/video games/artwork/music/etc. that you love. Being a consumer is just as important as being a creator. If everyone was just making things 24/7, we’d have all these wonderful works of art sitting around unappreciated. Regardless of whether or not you decide to indeed take a break, make sure you’re taking time to do other things you enjoy. It’s okay not to be productive 100% of the time, which leads me into my next point:

4) Do it because it’s fun

I know for me, it can be really easy to make writing into something that feels like work. Like, in some senses, it is, but in a much more real way, it isn’t. Writing is an art, and art doesn’t have to follow any particular formula. Do you have a random scene you’re just dying to write? Write it down! Do you want to draw your characters instead of writing about them? Go for it! It can be really easy to create really harsh criteria around what being a writer means–how many words you write in a day, what your routine looks like, etc. But at the end of the day, writing should be fun and enjoyable. There aren’t any deadlines. There isn’t any pressure. It’s okay to just take your time and enjoy the process.

5) Give yourself time to heal

My last piece of advice is this: to give yourself time to recover and heal. Burnout is like an injury or illness–it takes time to recover. I wish it were an overnight, quick-fix kind of issue, but unfortunately it rarely happens like that. Don’t try to force yourself to be not-burned-out, or beat yourself up for feeling this way. I promise that it will get better and easier, but you’re not somehow lesser-than for needing time to heal. Be kind and gentle with yourself, alright? It will all be alright in the end <3

Wow, that turned into an essay! I would apologize, but I shan’t. 😛 Anyway, dear Lexi, what you’re feeling is valid, and you won’t be burned out forever. You have my email (at least I think you do–do you?), so I’m here if you ever want to talk about creative things or just life in general. You got this, girl! <3

“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it?”

[Elfwing]

@writerlexi1216

Been there. A lot.

I agree with all these fine folks!

I will break up my advice:

1: I’d say don’t try too hard on things. If you’re finding it hard, write what you can, and don’t push so hard you’re on the edge of tears (personal admonishment for myself right now XD), but as Elizabeth said, refill!!! I love writing, but at times it’s so stinkin annoying to deal with writer’s block and feeling like my work is worthy of the trashbin of trashbins. Read good books you enjoy, listen to music you like. I HIGHLY recommend Florian Bur’s music!! He does amazing epic orchestral music. His song Homecoming is the best song I’ve ever heard!

2: Quiet. Good ol’ peace and quiet. Try to go for walks if you can, even if they’re short, without any devices to distract you. And just sit in quiet for a few moments and read God’s word. That does help like nothing else. It’s honestly the small things that help.

3: Have a good laugh. I recommend the movie Dolittle. (The new one with Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. Dolittle) It is hilarious, especially if you like fantasy and adventure, and I watch it when I need some laughter.

4: Do other art forms if you enjoy them! I personally like drawing and making stuff out of clay. poetry can be relaxing if you enjoy it, as well as writing in a diary or reading what you’ve already written in it; that way it’s not so straining on the creative juices so to speak, also, it can bring back memories. I have done it many times, and when I look back at the collective entries like, a year later, it’s sometimes very funny. like, a year ago, after not writing for almost two years, I wrote. “Wow, it’s been a long time since I finished a diary entry in here, but I’ll put a stop to that. Today I”

That’s as far as I got.

I figured out later I had started another diary in another book several weeks later, but that diary book is still left unfinished to this day XD

I know I probably repeated other people’s advice in one way or another, but long story short: give yourself a break and have FUN. I know everyone has their lives and they’re busy and stuff, but (and this is stuff I tell myself often) if you have five minutes for screens then there is definitely five minutes to use it for something else. As Duolingo’s loading screen sometimes says: “if fifteen minutes a day can teach you a language, what can fifteen minutes of social media do?”

Sorry if I’m not helping lol.

I'm 'a homeschooler' because cookie-making writing artistic animal-whisperer isn't a job title

[Anonymous]

@writerlexi1216

I totally get ya, Lexi! I love writing The Apostle’s Sister but feel blegh so many times with it. XD I’d say that if you feel passionate about a story and feel a strong urge to write it that doesn’t go away, it’s God’s nudging and you can begin doing small things like character profiles or just jotting down a few plot points hanging out in ya brain. That’s how I feel with TAS, and I’ve found that the easiest way to recover from burnout is to write that story, ’cause we write for God after all! I’ve been overcoming my burnout by working on some character profiles for Temira, Paul, Seth, and Reuben, as well as daydreaming about a new character I’m gonna start developing pretty soon. Doing small things like filling out one character profile per day or writing 100 words in an outline, can really help!

A few more fun ideas you can try to get yourself back into the swing of things are:

1) Make memes for your book. Yes, I did this recently for TAS and it was amazing. XD

2) Write from a random outside person’s perspective. Like choose an ambiguous citizen from your fantasy world and write a couple short paragraphs from their POV where they talk about running into the MC of your WIP. This is actually quite fun and can generate new ideas!

3) Pretend you are your MC, and write a poem or diary entry – but not as yourself, as your MC. Think about what your MC would write and what their “author voice” would be like if they were a writer. Or you could imagine what the main characters of your book would be like as writers! What genre would they write, are they a pantser, plotter, or plantser, etc. I’ve been seeing those around Instagram and they are so fun.

Hope this helps! <333

[Issabelle Perry]

@writerlexi1216

Girl, I just SOOO feel ya!!!! I literally just got out of a major writing slump that I’d been in for all of June. Like writing literally blegh for me too and everything!!!!

So I guess, every writer is going to be different. For some people pushing through is what helps them. This use to help me, but well, it didn’t help this last time. So every experience will be different, too.

The first thing is maybe just take a break. Taking breaks are really good and help a LOT more than you’d think. And they don’t have to be long ones, it just depends on what you need. And I find when I’m in a writing burnout, I just need some time to break. Maybe catch up on everything I let go to pot while I was busy writing or take some time to do hobbies that I don’t normally have the time for. Sometimes you just gotta refuel that creativity!!!

Then maybe you can start on something short if that’s what you wanna do. 🙂 But if this new novel idea is just calling you, then I say take the plunge and go for it!!!! I normally can write novels back to back without having to take a break in between, but like I said, every writer is different and every project you work on is going to call for a completely new method in handling these things!!!!

In the end, advice can only take you so far and it’s okay if some of the things people say to do don’t work for you. I pretty much never do anything the way people advise (like for instance, my plot stages are very minimal and I never write anything I do plot out down. But a lot of people tell me to try plotting and well I’m just a different writer and plotting hinders rather than helps my writing cuz that’s just the way it works for me. I say all of that ramble to say that in the end, it doesn’t matter what other people say to do if you find something else works better!!!!)

Hopefully something there helps. 🙂

God gives His hardest battles to His strongest soldiers.
TeenWritersNook.com

[Alexa Autorski]

@nova21 @devastate-lasting @daisy-torres @lewilliams @elfwing @joy-caroline

Oh my goodness, all of you have been so sweet and super helpful!!! Thank y’all so much for the advice, it’s really helped me figure out the next steps to overcoming burnout and I feel SO much better now. *sighs of relief* Thank you guys so much, you’re the best! I’ve totally been taking everybody’s advice to heart and it’s made me feel like I’m not going insane anymore so much better. 🙂 Thank y’all!

[Anonymous]

@writerlexi1216

So glad I could help!! <33

[Daisy Torres]

Of course!!! Good luck!!!

"It's easy to be caught up in stardust and whispers when reality is so dark and loud."

[Author]

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