Burnout Is Real

In every creative field, there is a phenomenon. A kind of "hitting a wall", where the creator - that's you and me - feels their creative muse take a hiatus. The wellspring of one's creative juices just runs dry one day, and no amount of drilling, priming, praying or begging can make them flow again. You might feel tired or frustrated, like you want to write but you either can't or everything that comes out of your pen would be perfectly at home in the bottom of a cattle chute. If any of the above describes how you're feeling right now, congratulations: you're suffering from burnout.

Burnout is not a new phenomenon; in fact, it's probably as old as the arts themselves. Some of the most famous writers across time have suffered some form of burnout or other. The late great George Orwell, writer of the infamous novels Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm among other masterpieces, and a frequent battler of burnout, had this to say:

"Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness."

As painful as it may be to admit, Old George wasn't exactly wrong. Speaking as a person currently hip deep in creating my own first novel, it's harder than it looks. It's a labor of love, mind you, but a labor that is long, grueling and often agonizing. As any mother can attest, however, those labor pains are necessary and always worth it to bring a bouncing bundle of joy into the world. The same rings true for books and short stories... but, unlike Orwell, I would argue that it shouldn't be as big a struggle as it is.

Half of the struggle that accompanies writing comes from - you guessed it - burnout. Most writers, myself included, find themselves swept up in the muse and just cranking out words for hours or even days on end. There's something cathartic about that kind of writing: it's like being embroiled in a deep trance, where nothing else in the world exists except you, your pen, and the page. Honestly, some of my best writing comes from those hypnotic states (and no, I don't do drugs; the strongest substance I imbibe is caffeine). Most of the time, however, after re-reading what I've written at the end of one of these deeply creative sessions, the stuff that comes out on the page is passable at best. Attempts are made to fix what I've written with revision after revision, only to end up as an unrecognizable facsimile of the original idea. In extreme scenarios, I have entire chapters of material that end up on the scrap heap.

The problem here - and the biggest key to fighting burn out - is overworking. When you really love a story you're creating, it's easy to get lost in the process and ignore everything else. Keeping one's nose pressed firmly to the grindstone 24/7, however, usually only results in subpar work... and a rather sore nose for that matter. Other problems often arise from this grind as well: back pain, eye strain, hand and wrist aches, headaches from overthinking and/or all the above, etcetera. There's a reason common staples of the writer's toolkit include heating pads and ibuprofen; it's harder than it looks, and it does take a toll on you.

If one feels themselves feeling the early signs of burnout, here is my advice: stop whatever you're doing right away. Put down your pen. Close your laptop. Just walk away. Sounds scary, I know, but your overall health and wellness will thank you in the long run. Even if it's just for an hour, taking a break is sometimes the most powerful cure for getting over that wall. When I find myself beating my head against that wall and feel the flames of burnout creeping up on me, I've been known to abandon my book for up to a week at a time. I don't even think about my writing. Instead, I read, play with my dog, bake, play video games, watch YouTube, clean something, or go for a walk. By the time I come back to my writing, and look at it with fresh eyes, whatever problem I was facing with it is suddenly gone. My writing flows much easier, and the quality of my work improves a little too, I think.

In this stage of my writing career, I'm still learning all the tips and tricks to dealing with burnout. I'm not a professional (yet) and I'm not a scientist or anything like that. All I know is what I've learned from my personal experience. I'm well aware that every writer has their own process and their own struggles, and that's perfectly fine. I only hope that by sharing my experiences, I can help others like me who might be newer to the game, and struggling with these same issues. If you're struggling with burnout right now, you're not alone. We've all gone through it too, and we're all here for you.