Step Away From Your Desk
Why self-care is the key to writing success
Burnout is real.
After a great push to get to “The End” of my first novel, one that took me years to write, I finally finished. I was reeling with euphoria. I did it! I wrote a book!
Wait… Now what?
Every bit of writing advice I found said the same thing: Put it aside for a while and start something new.
So I tried. I really did. I sat down every day to write, just like all the writing advice said to do. But nothing happened.
That’s not entirely true. I wrote a few words. I got frustrated. I wrote a few more words, and got even more frustrated. Yet I persisted, convinced that if I didn’t put in the effort, I wasn’t a real writer.
The longer I tried, the worse it got. I even convinced myself the 93,000-word novel I’d just written was a fluke, and that I would never be able to write again. Maybe I only had the one story in me.
So I put the writing aside. Waay aside. In fact, I packed up all the resources I used to write my manuscript, along with all evidence of me as a writer, and hid them from view so I wouldn’t feel so darn guilty about not writing.
I focused on other things in an effort to convince my brain to let go of the desire to write.
And then a funny thing happened. Once that guilt and self-doubt faded, I felt light again. I felt clear-headed. And a month later, I felt a spark of inspiration. I sat down and wrote another novel in only five weeks.
That’s when I realized that burnout wasn’t something wrong with me, it’s just part of the process — the worst of which (complete self-doubt) could probably be avoided.
Writers and entreprenuers are both susceptible. We have an inherent fear of downtime because our success is directly linked to how much effort we put into our projects. If we writers don’t write, that book will never be finished. We’re focused on results. Which is why it feels so wrong to be inactive.
But sometimes downtime is exactly what we need.
Recognizing burnout
Over time, our abilities erode. It’s a slow process, so slow we might not even notice. But eventually it takes us longer to get into the story again. Or some of that passion for the story ebbs away. It starts taking us longer to churn out the same amount of work we used to do in a fraction of the time.
Although our effort remains steady, our output slows. We’re working less efficiently.
Let that degradation go on too long, and your book, or your business, will suffer. No matter how much you slog through, you can’t seem to get anything done.
Your project needs your best effort. And how do you find your groove again? Taking an afternoon, a day or two, or even a full vacation, will keep you clear-headed and working at your best.
Inevitably I’ll be working full-tilt for weeks on end, and then I get to a point where it seems to take longer to get things done. I struggle to come up with ideas. Or I know what I’m going to write, but it won’t come out through my fingers.
The excuse doesn’t matter — it’s all a symptom of overwork. This slow down is simply a cue that it’s time for me to take a break.
Once you learn to recognize the patterns leading to this point, you can head off burnout before it even sets in. Which I do.
I track my time any time I sit down to complete a task, and it’s a great help. After tracking for months, I have a good idea of how much writing or editing I can get done per hour. With the details of each session caputred, it’s easy to see when you’re slowing down. The numbers don’t lie.
But discovering your burnout pattern doesn’t even have to be that complicated. A simple note each week about how excited you are to work on your project, maybe just a number on a scale of 1 to 10, can bring it to your attention. As soon as a a negative pattern starts to emerge, it’s time to take a break.
So what kind of break are we talking about?
What kind of self-care should you be doing?
Trick question. There is no “right” way to take care of yourself.
We all know that binge-watching shows isn’t the healthiest habit, but if that’s the only thing that helps your brain truly shift gears, then go for it!
Self-care is whatever you need it to be.
For me, fresh air can fix most things. Whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed or overworked, it’s usually a sign I need to get outside and take a walk. Sometimes a quick stroll to the park and back helps, other times I walk for an hour or two, letting my mind slow down.
But that might not be the best method for you.
Go hang out with friends or family, if spending time with others is what recharges your batteries. Get lost in a book for pure pleasure, and not one remotely related to your work. Train your cat to walk on a leash. Do what gives you joy and helps you forget about your project for a while.
Such a small break may not feel like much, and some people might think it’s a waste of time, but it’s critical to your success. You’re recharging. And every single time I’m feeling like I’m dragging and I take the time to do one of these things, I come back to the page eager and ready to write.
Self-care can be empowering
There’s no guaranteed formula to get back on track, but once you find what works for you, you take control and burnout no longer controls you.
This is where you get to experiment. Is a fun evening enough to make you feel fresh the next morning? Or do you need to take a whole day off to feel like yourself again? When’s the last time you took a vacation — of any kind?
Try different activities and vary the lengths of time until you home in on what works consistently.
I’m now able to recognize when I’m feeling sluggish and simply need to take a walk, when a hot bath will trigger inspiration, and when it’s time to unplug for a few days. This took almost a year of experimentation, and I’m still discovering new ways to recharge.
Stepping away from our work feels counterintuitive at first. We all hear this advice: “Write every day” if you want to be a better writer. For me, though, this is more of a guidline than a steadfast rule. Instead, I strive to write consistently.
After I finish a novel, I now know I can’t jump directly into the next one. I need a cooling-off period. I need time to let that story go and to allow another one to take hold in my brain space. Otherwise it all gets jumbled and I get overwhelmed.
And quite frankly, when I’ve hit the end of a novel I don’t want to think about writing. I definitely don’t want to think about starting a new manuscript, and all the work that’s will have to go into it.
For me, the only way to write long-term is to take breaks. When I’m in a project, that break might be an evening off, or a day to recharge. But when I’m between projects, I give myself a little longer. I rest until I feel ready and eager to get back to the page.
Learning that about myself was a powerful confidence boost. With a little experimentation, it’s possible to find your own unique writing rhythm, no matter what anyone tells you it should be. You’ll find what works for you. And isn’t that empowering?
In the past, I used to keep pushing myself past the point of efficiency, thinking more effort equaled, well, more effort. If my performance dropped, I worried there was something wrong with me. That I wasn’t strong enough, or dedicated enough, to see the project through.
That’s ridiculous.
We all work best when we are feeling our best, so if you haven’t given yourself a little time off, it’s time to do something terribly unproductive that makes you feel great.
Do you have any self-care routines that work for you? What hasn’t worked for you? Feel free to share! There may be simpler, or even more creative ways to get back on track.
