# Ever get burned out?



## Tiarhlu (Aug 20, 2009)

I've been writing heavily the past few months, and I think I finally did it. I'm absolutely worn, like I just ran a few marathons and fell over right before the finish line. I've been reading a lot too. My head gets all fuzzy even thinking about it. 

So yeah, I apologize to everyone in that Writer's Block community for not reading anything the past few weeks. I'll get to what I can soon. I'm going to finish my current story (just one scene to go) and then take a rest for a few weeks. I'll try to do the Thursday prompts, but otherwise take it easy. 

...maybe I'll go do some District 9 fanart.


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## Nick (Aug 20, 2009)

Dude it's ok to take a break lol and you certainly don't have to apologize for it. Everyone burns out sometimes. So yeah, just relax for a little bit. Alot of times I find that if I take a break from doing something alot (probly playing the piano) I come back better for it.


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## Nakhi (Aug 20, 2009)

Yes. About a month ago I was pulling out a chapter a day (sometimes two) I just sat back and took a 5 day break. Went back and starting going good again.


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## Aurali (Aug 20, 2009)

currently working off a burn out.


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## Tiarhlu (Aug 20, 2009)

Nick said:


> Dude it's ok to take a break lol and you certainly don't have to apologize for it. Everyone burns out sometimes. So yeah, just relax for a little bit. Alot of times I find that if I take a break from doing something alot (probly playing the piano) I come back better for it.



I like playing the piano. Wish I was better at it.


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## Nick (Aug 20, 2009)

^ ^ I'm more of a composer than a performer. Not that I can't rock out the classical stuff when I need to but I prefer writing more, and playing melodic contemporary music. What kinda stuff do you play?


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## Murphy Z (Aug 21, 2009)

I had to cut the number of pages I was reading a day - with a full time job and trying to write too, my time's limited.

Vacations away from it every so often are good (unless it's your job and you have deadlines or something); you don't want to end up hating it so much you don't want to do it.


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## Aeturnus (Aug 22, 2009)

There's times I'll get burnt out on a story. If I absolutely can't write anything within a couple of days, or it's too much of struggle, I just take a break from that story and go work on something else. Which is kind of the case at the moment.


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## M. LeRenard (Aug 22, 2009)

Oh no, never.
By the way, that sentence is dripping with so much sarcasm you could make a smoothie out of it.

But I always pick it back up again. Most of my projects are in a state of half-completion, but even if it takes me years and years, I always get them done.  It's just that there's a lot of burnout throughout the process.


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## Shay Feral (Aug 22, 2009)

I'm burned out right now, lol... I used to be able to write pages and pages every day back in school on my free time. Now days after just a couple paragraphs I begin to feel the drag, unless I am enthusiastic... In the last two months I had three great ideas for stories and not a single one was completed...

I still think they are worth writing, I just don't have the drive to do it anymore. I'm always preoccupied with other things, friends, gaming, working when I can and other personal projects. I've just got too much on my plate, well, actually writing is just low in priority... I could be writing right now, but I'd rather chat...


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## NeroFox1989 (Aug 23, 2009)

if i draw too much i begin to lose focus and pretty soon its just pointless to continue.
luckily as the years go by i am becoming more and more tolerant of just sitting there for hours on end...till my pen hand gets carpal tunnel   >: /.  well ive never actually had that happen but it tends to get rly crampy.


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## Chex (Aug 23, 2009)

My day is non-stop plotting and writing, so it's nice to take a break through video games or drawing. It's also nice to bullshit RP or something with friends, too, just to be working on something different.


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## TakeWalker (Aug 24, 2009)

I think, upon reflection, that I spend too much time Not Writing to get burned out.

Like now. :V


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## Kaevon (Aug 29, 2009)

TakeWalker said:


> I think, upon reflection, that I spend too much time Not Writing to get burned out.
> 
> Like now. :V


 

That's been the case with me lately.  School enjoys sucking the life out of my writing muse until it only shows up once a week or so.

But, burning out is probably one of the worst feelings a writer can feel.  You want to do so much, but then when you get down to actually trying to do something, it just sort of fizzles out.

Bah.


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## darkfox118 (Sep 20, 2009)

I stop for a few days until boredom forces me to write again.. sometimes it feels like a chore instead of a hobby.. so yea.. I do get burned out. Even though my stories are VERY short (and probably poorly written) it still takes a while for me to hammer through them. 

writing in my horrible environment surrounded by loud engine revving rednecks doesn't help either. 

wow.. and I'm bumping an old thread! oh well..


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## Atrak (Oct 1, 2009)

During the summer, when I did not have internet, I started writing my IDA series. I would not stop for anything  . I wrote about thirty pages a day. When I got internet, I lost my motivation  . I'm hoping to get it back and finish the series. I'm starting to feel it more and more everyday  .


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## Kesslan (Oct 2, 2009)

Yeah, i get burned out too time to time. Part of it is just me not liking what I'm writing, which is one reason I've posted so little of my written works. Hell most of what I've posted so far is stuff I've posted elsewhere for RPG characters etc. Though it is still connected to a story I've been writing off and on for about a year or two now.


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## Mangasama (Oct 2, 2009)

Usually not when I'm working on an ongoing comics series. On text writing, definitely. I've been plugging away on a kids' book for some tinme and I regularly run out of eneergy. This in spite of heavy outlining, which should theoretically help me through the slumps.


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## darkfox118 (Oct 2, 2009)

I have to force myself to make an outline or I wind up skipping over things and rushing through a story. 

I outline, then draft, and edit it chapter by chapter. Right now I post as each chapter is finished editing, may not be the best method.. but I'm an attention whore so.. :lol:


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## Volpino (Oct 2, 2009)

I thought I'd add one of the most useless quotes on burnout, I've ever heard. It's from an interview with Ray Bradbury done at the magazine I used to work for. I understand what he's saying and he's right, but sheesh, it sounds way harsh at a point where a writer probably doesn't need to hear it. The question was "Have you ever had writer's block?"



> Never! Because I know how to live. You see, the people who get writer's block are the people who force themselves to do things they shouldn't be doing. And your subconscious backs up on you and says, "Hey, I don't want to do this." Most experts who say they can help you with writer's block are fakes. They offer remedies, but the remedy is _cut it out_. Whatever you're doing is wrong, obviously, or it would be going well.


Much more useful is how he follows that up. I included the first part because in my warped mind, it's pretty funny.



> I shift gears every day or so. One day I'll write poetry, one day a play, another day I'll work on a novel, or if I have a good run on the novel I'll continue for four or five days. But if the novel gives me trouble, I'll walk away from it, go do something else. You have to treat ideas like cats. Have you ever tried to pick up a cat that doesn't want to be picked up? If you try and force the story out of you and it isn't ready to be born, it won't work.


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## darkfox118 (Oct 2, 2009)

so.. by his definition if you run out of ideas.. even for a few days... you shouldn't be writing at all?


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## Volpino (Oct 2, 2009)

I think the main problem is that he doesn't suffer from the main problem. =P

Although I found that along those lines, if I'm totally out of ideas, I do something way off my beaten path, like writing a description of something really boring that just happened in my life.


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## Atrak (Oct 2, 2009)

Well, I am never totally out of ideas. If I get blocked on something (i.e. bored with it  ), then I just start writing something completely different. This actually helps me with the first story, because starting to write another story gives me many ideas that I can apply to the first story.


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## Digitalpotato (Oct 2, 2009)

Do too much of anything and it'll get burned out.


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## darkfox118 (Oct 2, 2009)

well right now I have backlogs of ideas. I have 1 story in the works, 1 in draft and one in my head thats just a concept. 

I know one day however I will exhaust my own creativity. 

when that day comes.. I may return to writing those smut stories that embarrass me so much. :lol: at least until I get a REAL idea.


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## TDK (Oct 2, 2009)

I'm currently burnt out. So many ideas that are gold in my head, but turn to shit when I write. This makes me :< on the inside and >.< on the outside.


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## Ieatcrackersandjumpcliffs (Oct 2, 2009)

Tiarhlu said:


> ...maybe I'll go do some District 9 fanart.


 
NO! I knew this was coming. I knew it when I first saw the trailer, and I knew it would be furries who would do it, too. I was right.


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## Ridge (Oct 6, 2009)

If there's one thing I've learned by writing is you can't force it.  Sometimes I would just sit and force out a story only to back and re-read and realize what a mess I made of my work.

If I can't make the story flow I don't try to write.  What I'll do is I'll work on my outline or think up new ideas for other stories and jot them down.  

Right now my time is currently spent with writing essays and research papers that by the time I have free time to write my stories I just want to get away from the written word for awhile.  

Oh well.

College > Everything else.


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