HOW TO DEAL WITH WRITER'S BURNOUT

Have you ever thought something like "I have nothing to say", "I don't care about writing", "I have no new ideas"? That's writer's burnout talking through you. If you're dealing with writing on a permanent basis you must have stumbled upon such state as writer's burnout at some point.

You know when it happens - you want to write and you write quite a lot but doesn't seem to be right for some reason. It is one of the most irritating things that can happen to a writer. Even more than the much feared writer's block. But unlike the block - burnout is when you just can't write because you've written already so much that every word and every concept behind them doesn't seem right for the particular instance.

Why it happens? There are numerous reasons, all of them apply to certain cases but one thing remains constant - overproduction. Writing too much may seriously hurt your writing skills as you rely more and more on some familiar patterns and stop trying something new. The reasoning behind overproduction is unfairly simple - more you work more gain you can achieve. The problem is - when you work too much - you can't work at all. You find it a chore and you'd be rather doing something far less "creative". Something that is commonly known as a waste of time.

***

Here are most common symptoms of writer's burnout:

• Physical, emotional and mental exhaustion;
• Utter lack of motivation;
• Abundant negative thinking (why bother writing at all, everything I do don't matter, I'm not really a writer, etc.);
• Troubles with keeping track of your work (deadlines, narrative structure, character motivations, etc.).

All this leads to your work output quality dropping significantly thus adding more pressure to your already rather damaged state. You can't enjoy writing. You have no idea how to write something that will really matter. You get angry about it and you do nothing else but imaginary banging your frail head against the wall in a desperate search of a solution of your very particular problem. And it goes on a loop. Again and again. Again and again and again. You are overwhelmed by utter horror of the situation. you don't even want to open the file with the text. The text itself feels stale and contrived. And everything else seems to be much more exciting. Even if its staring at the wall.
But there's a glimmer of hope. Recognize the problem. Don't hard on yourself and stop expecting a smash hit from yourself. Relax. Everything is going to be OK. It's more of a question of time.
Put writing on pause for some time but don't stop writing - do something else that will employ your other skill (for example, for me - it is cooking). If writing is your job - allow yourself an hour of a pause in order to regroup yourself. Talk to somebody, let the "the stuff in the basement" go away, spill it out verbally.

***

Here are some tips I'm using to battle the burnout:

• Clean the scene. Things on your table may distract you from your purpose. Clear your desk. Leave only what is necessary;
• Don't think about your place in a grand scheme of things. It doesn't matter, really. Don't be so vain;
• Challenge yourself - write something in a particular set of rules. For example, avoid verbs or complex sentence structures;
• Learn new things. Read something. Listen to something. Watch something. Get new information. Get better. Use it in your work;
• Don't hurry with writing. Let it go as it goes.

***

If you will do that - you'll miss the moment when the burnout is gone and you already be back in action with all-new all-different creative forces.