Beware of Burnout
By Cathy Yardley | February 4, 2025 |
Petri Damstén
Are you burned out?
We live in an age of hyper-productivity. If you’re not doing a million things (presumably well) you are somehow failing.
The only acceptable excuse for lack of productivity is “I’m soooo stressed out!” which is worn as a badge of honor. (Either that, or you have a serious illness, preferably one that results in hospitalization.)
As writers, we’re supposed to be putting out any number of books, and either querying or self-publishing.
Add to that building our newsletter list, as well as creating content for every social media under the sun – there’s always a new one, or an old one that disappears and comes back, or whatever.
Or running ads. Building an ARC team.
And have you considered Patreon? Do you have merch? Have you done special editions or sprayed edges or new covers in a collector’s box on Kickstarter?
There’s always something else to learn, something else to do, and only so much time and energy.
Burnout doesn’t look like burnout.
As a writing coach, I’ve been teaching clients and students to be on the lookout for burnout for over a decade. There is no set approach to writing success, I counsel. Self-care above all.
Imagine my chagrin, then, when I realized I’d been burned out for a few years, all because I misunderstood my own energy and output patterns.
Mental and physical health.
Over the years as a writer, I’d have incredibly productive times – writing three books a year – followed by “fallow” periods where I wouldn’t write for a year or so. This was incredibly frustrating, since I knew what I was capable of, and was taking steps to take care of myself as best I could.
What I didn’t recognize: those super-productive times were not the norm, despite experiencing them many times.
No matter how healthy I tried to be, no matter what safeguards I put in place, I have a certain level of productivity that is optimum. I pushed past it at my peril, and I paid the price.
This has only become clearer as I have gotten older. I am neurodiverse (diagnosed ADHD and Bipolar 2.) Also, sitting for long periods of time has more of a toll.
And all-nighters? Laughs in age 52.
I was essentially sprinting in a marathon. When my body had had enough of my ill-advised pressure, it would simply stop me.
But I didn’t even recognize what it was doing, because it didn’t look like I was getting sick or hurt. It wasn’t dramatic. If anything, it was sly and subversive.
Burnout is a very cunning liar.
Hidden burnout.
It can look like depression. Or procrastination. You start avoiding your computer like you owe it money.
It disguises itself as brain fog. The concept you loved now suddenly seems like a horrible idea – but you don’t know why, you just feel like the whole thing needs to be tossed. And you can’t firmly get behind any other ideas, cycling in indecision for months.
You berate yourself because you can’t seem to get it together, all the while not realizing that no amount of writing will solve the root of the problem: dealing with the burnout.
The solution.
I wound up writing a free course to help people see how to deal with it. I’m sharing it here, because right now, with the world the way it is, more of us are burned out than we realize. (Or we know we are but we have no idea how to begin to address it.)
https://rock-your-writing.teachable.com/p/get-out-of-burnout
First, you get out of the initial “spin” of burnout. Like doing donuts of black ice, this is to stop you from the overwhelming, out-of-control state.
Then, you triage everything, cutting it down to the bare minimum. (We tend to be bad at that, by the way. This truly means if it’s not keeping the lights on and keeping you alive, cut it out.)
Finally, you do what you have to, to get back to a healthier space and get some of that energy back.
Step by hard won step.
Honestly, it’s simple, if not easy. When I tell you it’s the only way, it comes with hard won experience.
Then what?
After that, you can design your life to better accommodate your energy levels, your focus, and your skills. Your writing path doesn’t have to look like anybody else’s, because again, there’s no set path. And no matter what else happens, Murphy’s Law is, alas, still in effect.
But you can create a life that is less stressful, and more consistent, even with the world on fire and publishing in a state of chaos. In fact, now more than ever, I strongly feel that this is the only way you can succeed.
First things first. Recognize whether or not you’re in burnout – and if you are, address it. Everything flows from that.
How are you feeling? Do you think you might be in burnout? What do you do to take care of yourself and protect your writing?
Cathy Yardley has published over 33 novels, novellas, and serialized fiction, both traditionally and independently. In 2011, she started RockYourWriting.com, with the mission of helping novelists make a living. She has helped hundreds of authors as a developmental editor, writing coach, and through her “plot sessions” – one-on-one calls that get authors from concept to plot points in one hour. She’s also written the Rock Your Writing series of reference books, taking authors through the writing cycle, from concept to completion. Sign up for her newsletter, and you can receive free downloads to help you plot and revise your novel.
[coffee]
Writing fiction for a living sounds to most people like a dream, an endless Bali vacation. Work in your pajamas! Make stuff up and get paid for it! Be famous but not so much that you need bodyguards!
The truth is that once you’re beyond your debut and sophomore novel and you are rolling, there is pressure. It may only come from the boss in your head but it’s real. You can talk with friends and your agent and editor about it, but there’s a certain boo-boo-aw-poor-you faux sympathy. After all, you’re living the dream.
Anyone can burn out and that’s true of fiction writers too. I see it. Been an agent for 46 years. Your candid and practical advice, Cathy, is right on. Thank you.
You’ve been in the trenches, and you know the realities of the industry. It’s far from the “wear a feather boa and dictate from your chaise lounge while eating bon bons and petting your Pomeranian” image from decades ago, that’s for sure!
Burnout, especially in an age of 24/7 “news” and social media and continually being “on,” is far too common. I’m doing what I can to protect myself, and hopefully help others. :) Thanks for commenting!
Cathy, how thoughtful of you to develop and offer a free course when you yourself were suffering. Thank you. A couple of years ago, I read Oliver Burkeman’s 4000 Weeks and it really resonated. I must admit that being chronically ill for 16 yrs has taught me to prioritize–first God, then family, then writing. I also embraced the fact that I’m a human being, not a human doing. My worth doesn’t come from doing x, y, z. But it is so hard to remember it when you are often judged by what you do, what you accomplish. So I do the best that I can, when I can, with what I have and leave the outcome to God. It’s been freeing.
I will share this with my critique group, some of whom are in the burn out space. Thank you for sharing here.
I did the course in one sitting. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have been struggling with burnout, and the horrible stress of trying to get past it, for a very, very long time (2 years?). Yes, I have begun to wonder if I’m just lazy, or procrastinating, or too old or too frozen, or if somehow I’ve forgotten how to write. Somewhere I lost the joy of writing. Maybe I’m just not good enough. I can’t count the number of books and articles I’ve read to ‘fix’ it, or the hours of therapy. Yes, I added more volunteer commitments, tried to be more ‘useful’, and it has just deepened the sense of burnout, the depression and the anxiety. I hide my feelings, and keep going. As long as they can call me a ‘high functioning’ depressed person, apparently I’m not in such a bad place. I am trying simple things to renew myself—getting out in nature, new spiritual practices, enjoying my pets, planning a sustainable, re-wilded garden. Your course gives me hope that I will get back to being me at my own pace, and I will write again.
Thank you, Cathy. After writing 19 books, plus short stories, blog posts, articles, and all the related promo, plus an unsold draft and several proposals, not to mention my fair share (or more) of publishing business hiccups, in 15 years, I simply hit a wall last fall. I had articles and blog posts to write and presentations to prepare and give, and I did all that, but had no energy for new fiction. I had to acknowledge that I needed a break. There were things I could — felt I should — do to promote the latest book that I ultimately had to admit to myself that I just wasn’t going to do, and the book would have to find its own way. I was still plenty busy, just not with fiction. I’d had the idea that I would pick up painting again, read more, blah blah blah — and it just didn’t happen. Everything seemed to take longer, because of the burnout. I’m back to fiction now, writing without a contract for the first time in 15 years, picking up a ms. I’d had to put aside because of other obligations, and I’m enjoying it. I admit I’m still not good at setting boundaries and deciding to not do things, but hey — I just closed two browser windows I’d left open to remind myself of contacts I “could” make. It’s a start, right? Thanks for the course — I’ll take a look.
Even when I was last writing fiction every day, I was still practicing my birth religion, Procrastination, and was irritated constantly at the idea that there are certain things I MUST do–not to be happy or to finish a book, but to keep breathing and wearing clothes that don’t stink. Oh, how I miss those carefree days. Yes, I am sleepwalking through some serious burnout. I have to leave myself notes so I don’t ignore the end of my insurance coverage, or roll up $500 in overdue POA dues. It might have something to do with politics.
Your offer of free instructions for getting out of a black funk has come just in time, Cathy. Thanks for this.
This post really hits a chord for me, Cathy, as it sounds like it does for a lot of us. Like you, my default productivity setting goes to 11, but recently burnout sneaked up on me in many of the ways you describe. Your advice is spot-on for how I dealt with it, and I was astonished how quickly it transformed my state of mind and my feelings about work; it rejuvenated my passion that had gotten a bit buried under a towering to-do list.
You’re right: we each have to create the career that’s right for us, not follow anyone else’s blueprint. I love that you turned your struggles into a course to help other people (and I recognize how very type-A productive personality that is as a way to handle
burnout… 😁) Thanks for this; I’ll be sharing.
Your description of the symptoms of burnout, especially the aversion to my computer really hit home. I’d been thinking it was grief, and that may have played a part, but I have all the symptoms you described. Thanks for the free course.