Bringing Yourself Back from a Writer’s Burnout
“You should sit down and write some more.” I’ve heard this and phrases similar to it often over the years. Many non-writers (or “No-Maj” as I call them) don’t truly understand the mind space that writing takes. Some days I write over 10,000 words. That’s a quarter of the amount of a paperback romance novel. Imagine running up the staircase of a building that has 10,000 steps. Your body would be like jelly afterwards, right? That’s my brain! Regardless of how much money I make on these good days, my mind collapses from the work and I often suffer from writer’s burnout.
Writer’s Burnout? What’s that?
When you’re a construction worker, you use your arms and back muscles to get the job done. If you’re a professional bodybuilder, you use them all - and you use them like crazy. But, if you’re a professional writer, you’re using your brain (which may not be a muscle in itself, but sure as heck should be treated like one) to get your work done. Like any part of your body, overuse can lead to exhaustion and burnout.
In addition to the amount of our brain, we use each day, working at a computer screen for long hours can also contribute to quicker burnout and is a killer on the eyes. We get migraines and headaches, irritable, frustrated, and can’t seem to get ourselves to put words to paper. Sound familiar?
As a writer, you need to nourish and take care of your brain in order to keep your mind at the state it needs to be to conceive the masterpiece which is your craft.
Left untreated, the amount of writing you produce and the quality of work you put out will suffer. In some extreme cases, you may think you no longer enjoy writing and will decide to take a job working in some stuffy accounting office doing scary work like accounts receivable. Don’t think this way! You have a way to bring yourself back from the writer’s burnout. It’s not permanent.
My “recharge weekends” and all sense of normalcy are gone.
Before the craziness of lockdowns and a pandemic yet after I decided to leave my job as a law clerk to take on writing full-time, I would actually plan a spa weekend once every month or two. I’d schedule all my deadlines for any other day, book a weekend somewhere like downtown Montreal, and just go - by myself - and let a Scandinavian bath, some intense meditation, and a highly-skilled massage therapist melt the burnout away. I’d return to Kingston on Sunday night feeling refreshed, recharged and ready to get back to what I love.
It sounds like maybe I was splurging or being frivolous, however, to me it was part of my job. I could even consider it a necessary expense for being able to continue my career properly. It’s kind of how a bodybuilder or athlete will schedule a day to soak in an ice bath or get a massage because they need it to regain their energy.
That’s not so easy anymore. I haven’t had one of these “recharge weekends” in almost a year. I’ve had to find other ways to recharge and, while albeit cheaper, need a little extra thought and motivation to make part of my daily schedule. I have learned quickly how essential these steps are in order for me to function properly, especially on my 10,000 word days.
Here are a few ways to bring yourself back from a writer’s burnout - or, even better, prevent one before it even happens.
Use a planner.
Whether you need to buy a planner or you already have one stuffed in a drawer somewhere, having something you need to physically write in each day can give you more momentum and make you feel like you have more control over your week.
The less time I need to spend on a device after staring at the LED screen of my computer for up to 12 hours a day, the better. I get that lots of people use Google Calendar or other apps to keep their schedule, but a good ole coiled planner can do wonders. There’s nothing quite like that instant gratification when you scratch off a finished task with a pen. One of those sleek gel ones that just glides across the paper. Sigh.
Make sure you schedule your tasks and projects before the day they’re due. And, make sure you’re only putting enough things to do on each day that you can actually complete. I tend to want to write everything on Monday and then just check them off as I complete them, however, I notice that I don’t get as much done or even though Monday is loaded, it’s Wednesday and I am sitting watching Netflix and thinking I don’t have much to do.
Next thing you know, it’s Friday morning and everything is due all at once. You get completely stressed out (which, coupled with the burnout you’re about to get from a load of work all at once, isn’t a recipe for success). Your weekend becomes screwed because you have so much work to do - and by Monday you’re a mess and can’t work.
A simple planner could prevent this.
Sleep. And wake up early.
I know the pandemic and working remotely has allowed us all to sleep in, wake up at 10 am, and take our time before we actually sit down to work. Although it is great to consider your own self-care as essential, there’s a borderline between that and laziness. And, I know for myself, once I get into a way of doing something, it’s easy for me to stick to it.
From about May to September of 2020, my work plummeted because I wasn’t putting the effort into getting up and setting myself up to work. I was going to sleep late and waking up late. I was in the COVID funk, the COVID burnout, and I just couldn’t get myself to do anything each day. It was a definite struggle.
I know this may not be completely about me waking up early. It could also have something to do with the fact that I had run completely out of money plus my boyfriend had snapped some common sense into me by telling me this was my career and lifestyle I was essentially giving up.
I started getting up early each day, beginning at 8 am and working my way to 6 am on some days. I found I could get more done before 10 am than I did in an entire day when I slept in. And I could focus more on my own personal writing as well as finding new clients. Plus, I could afford to spend a little time in the afternoon/evening clearing my mind and “charging” my brain for the next morning. After a couple of weeks, I had gotten used to waking up early and it became just as easy as when I slept in.
Take breaks to do what you love.
Being a writer, especially a freelance one who works from home, it can be easy to think that you should always be writing and feel guilty when you’re not. Even worse is when others kind of make you feel like you should be too. Because, hey, you’re Kimberley The Writer.
Remember, though, that sometimes we don’t have to be The Writer. Maybe on Wednesday afternoons, I want to be Kimberley The Painter - and I want to spend an hour or two every other day being Kimberley The Mom Who Takes Time to Play Lego With Her Kid.
Just because you hold the title of your career clearly does not mean that it defines your every day. Schedule time to be yourself and do the other things that you love. It’ll give your mind a chance to refresh and remind you why you love what you do.
Take breaks to do absolutely nothing.
I have become slightly addicted to meditation. I’m actually writing this on a “zen high” right now. It’s that lighter than air feeling you get after a yoga session (I am a fan of kundalini), a quiet period of prayer, or even just a few minutes of sitting and doing nothing but thinking about your breathing. If you’re a beginner, there are lots of guided meditation apps and videos available online and a simple Google search away.
It won’t take you long to begin absorbing the benefits of meditation. If it seems alien or weird, I promise you if you go with it, you’ll thank me. Honestly, meditation has been proven to reduce stress, improve mood, concentration and performance, enhance your overall livelihood and even change the composition of your brain!
Practicing mindfulness has changed how I face my problems, including tough writing subjects and pending deadlines. Call it what you will, but writing and meditation were meant to be together.
Get That Massage
Despite what others may think, you’ve got a talent and it’s a tough one. Very few could do what we do and spend as many hours doing it - and enjoying it. It’s why so many businesses are willing to spend good money on letting someone else do it. Spend a little of it on yourself.
Buy a pair of comfy socks from a local handmade business. Get a haircut or some great bath salts to soak and recharge in the bath with. And, in my case (especially because I have horrible posture due to many of my “leaning over the coffee table from the couch” writing sessions) a much-needed massage. It’s called self-care and it’s essential for preventing burnouts in our industry.
Phew, all this writing about self-care makes me want to enjoy some music and get some steps in.
How do you treat your writer’s burnouts? I am always open to more ideas for keeping my passion for writing alive as long as possible.