Coming Back from Burn Out

So I love writing in general, and I found a great hobby in writing and directing on episode.
About two years ago I hit a massive dead end, couldn’t create anything, didn’t have the motivation to anyways.
I stopped updating my fantasy story Divine when I started living in my car, and that was that.

I remember how much fun I used to have so I’m trying to come back to it. I’ve got a lot of ideas I never had the time or drive to write, so that’s what I’m working on.

Now I’m looking for some tips and tricks people have found useful to avoid this kind of burnout! I really want to finish something, but I’m afraid I’ll hit a snag again. Anything that anyone has found useful themselves, I’d love to hear it!

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Hey hun!
I understand what you mean, it’s a pain. Burnouts are the worst. I’ve been having this problem too :face_holding_back_tears: :blob_hearts:

I’m so proud of you for managing to “accept” it if that makes any sense! Of course, there really isn’t a way to stop burnouts from happening in my experience.

My little rules to try avoid them:

  • Please don’t compare yourself to bigger authors! It really doesn’t help with motivation and honestly makes you feel awful and you don’t need to feel like that, love :heart:
  • Structure is your best friend. Make a plan or write ideas down, it’s always good to get them out! Just try not to over analyse every part of the story, it takes away the fun!
  • Don’t put all your ideas into a box! Something I’m guilty for is having loads of ideas and wanting to put them all into one story - however it mostly ends up in a burnout or I give up, if you write down your ideas and focus on your baseline, it might make it a little bit easier!
  • Ask for advice! Sometimes writing and stuff in life is hard, nobody would judge for asking for help! Whether it’s moral support, coding help, idea help or organization! Everyone’s here to help and you should never be afraid to ask!
  • Take time for yourself! Spending too much time stressing over your story will ultimately lead to burnouts, it may become a sort of chore to code so always take a break.
  • Take it one step at a time, coming back may be hard, do what you can and don’t push yourself to the point of having another one. Don’t put yourself to a standard that’s way too far out of reach and just breathe and do what you can!
  • Don’t break out of habits. This includes staying up all night to code, missing out on school work, work or anything related as such. Your mental and physical well-being is more important and you should always prioritize yourself.
  • Get advice from family and friends. It’s always good to talk to people you care about these things. They might be able to provide you with more ways to help yourself!
  • Don’t feel like you have to finish it. Especially when you’re starting off again, you may fall into the bad habit of feeling like you need to finish the episode or you need to do this but you don’t. If you can’t, don’t push yourself.
  • Find inspiration in songs or anything creative! If you’re feeling down and your ideas are turning bad, find comfort in a film, songs, art, food? anything that can help!

I would have made this longer but I’m quite tired. Hopefully this helped somehow! If you need anything, please feel free to DM me! :heart:

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Much appreciated! I really like all your advice, some of which I honestly hadn’t thought of before, thanks for the input!! :relaxed::relaxed:

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Hey girl,

I agree with @PhoebeT, but like to add some advices, too.

  • Don’t force yourself to write, that only makes you less motivated writing;
  • Don’t get yourself demotivated by hate-fan-mails, if you get them, ignore them (every author on Episode gets a negative fan-mail once in a while);
  • Take breaks: If you have a writers block take a break (tease your brother, walk your dog or cat or water the plants), do something else. After a while the inspiration will come back itself.;
  • Don’t forget to promote: promotion is necessary for readers, if you forget to promote → readers can forget your story (sounds easy, but it’s also easily to forget to promote);
  • And last but not least, ask for advice (yes, @PhoebeT said that already), but we always like to help other authors over here on this forum or if you have Instagram on Instagram.

I wish you good luck with your story and don’t hesitate to contact me on DM over here or on Instagram (@angelwings_1983).

Love A-W

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Take time and relax. This shoukd be fun and enjoyable for you. You could try writing small increments at a time!

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Hey :wave:

You should read a book called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

It’s been just under two years since I read it and it’s changed my life. Like, seriously! It basically drills into your subconscious and banishes all doubt you have but I dose require you to be very honest with yourself.

I have always been a creative person. I use whatever medium I feel best to express my emotions and opinions whether it’s paint, film, writing, photography etc. Before I read the book, I thought I could create art freely but having read the book it I realised how trapped I was behind doubt, fear, jealousy, anger. All thought pent up emotions stop us from being creative. It also gives you small tasks towards freedom.

An example of what happened to me

One of the tasks was to look back on your past. Section you life into chunks (e.g. the different schools you went to, university, work life etc). Then it asks you to think very hard about all the relationships you had in each section.

When I did this I realised that my Mum would tell me off for boasting. She was so fierce that I became afraid to boast. I know that boasting is not a good quality to have but is ok to do every now and then.

What it includes

The Artist’s Way is a 12 week course
Morning Pages - this is when you write 3 pages of whatever comes to your mind. The book explains that if you have any doubts or worries, it stops you from being creative. Having a place to vent can be amazing.
Artist Date - this is when you go on a date with yourself. Giving yourself time to yourself can be really good.

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